The Girl
by Moonlight Silhouette
Summary: [COMPLETE]Suze moves to Carmel, California and gets caught between the hate of Paul and Jesse, both of whom want to keep her for themselves. [JS]
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

The sun blazed down onto the hoards of students groaning about the fact that school had started again after three glorious months off.

Jesse's gaze darted around Junipero Serra Mission Academy appearing to be bored before the lessons had even begun.

Talk of a new student filtered through the mass of teenaged girls ganged nearby.

Jesse strained his ears to hear the conversation going on between two of the most nosiest girls in the school.

"Apparently, her mom married Brad Ackerman's dad." Kelly Prescott spoke quickly in an effort to get everything in her mind out.

"No way!" Her sometimes-brainless sidekick Debbie Mancuso exclaimed. "He didn't say anything."

Jesse rolled his eyes. Of course Brad didn't say anything, he was too busy with his tongue down her throat.

"So, do you, like, know her name?" Debbie asked in typical Californian girl fashion.

"I heard it was something like …"

"Hey, Hector!"

Kelly's voice was drowned out as Jesse's team mates approached him. He hated the name Hector but hated for them to call him Jesse even more. It didn't sound right coming from the jocks of the school.

"Hey guys, what's up?"

Again, Jesse was drowning in conversations, barely listen to any of them. Instead he found his attention was focused on the sea. It never ceased to amaze him. He'd lived in California his whole life and still the rippling water fascinated him.

"What do you think Hector?"

That snapped him out of his daze.

"Huh?" he asked intelligently. "Oh…"

Jessed was once again distracted, this time by the land rover he knew to be the Ackerman's pulling up into the car park.

"Whatever," he replied in response to what he's been asked. "Excuse me."

He jumped off the table he'd been sitting on without another word and ran towards the car.

"Hey Brad!" He called out, causing the boy to jump in surprise.

"Oh, Hector. Hi."

"Yeah, so I heard something earlier," Jesse started. "Did your Dad get married."

Brad groaned in annoyance.

"Ugh. Yeah. Last year. Brought a step-sister into the family and everything"

"Last year? How come your sister's only just starting school then?"

"She's not my sister and something about their being no places left," Brad dutifully explained. "Now that that Heather girl has gone, Suze has come over from Brooklyn."

It was then that someone shouted out to Brad, who replied back with a yell of his own.

"Is it cool if I go?" He directed at Jesse.

"Yeah, sure."

"Cool. See you."

Jesse stood there in the car park thinking about everything he'd been told. He didn't even know why he was so interested in this girl.

Fortunately, he was saved from his thoughts by a whistle blown by Sister Ernestine.

Shaking his head, Jesse went to stand in his line along with the other male's in the his grade. Before long, they'd be reciting The Pledge of Allegiance, morning prayers and the listen to the dull morning announcements.

As soon as the kindergartners calmed down of course. Until then, Jesse had at least another five minutes to talk with his fellow 11th graders.

While he was actually participating in a conversation, he was pushed from behind.

Turning around to see who had committed the act, he stopped in his tracks.

"Well, well, well," The other boy said with an evil glint in his eye and a menacing smile on his lips.

"If it isn't Jesse de Silva."

As much as he hated being called Jesse by his team mates and the majority of his classmates, it was nothing compared to the loathing he felt when this particular boy said it.

"Paul Slater." Jesse breathed out through clenched teeth before continuing sarcastically.

"To What do I owe the pleasure?"

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Random Idea. Hope its okay. It's not following the events of the series though there are some places that Meg Cabot's ideas are used. So i own nothing. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 3**

Jesse despised Paul with a passion. They'd met over the summer in the Pebble Beach Hotel and Golf Resort where Jesse had worked as a life guard. Paul, of course, was a guest.

Paul, Jesse had found out, was both deviant and evil. As well as selfish, self-obsessed and greedy. There was not one good quality about him.

Before the devil incarnate could reply to Jesse's sarcastic question, Father Dominic, principal of the school, started the assembly.

"So," Paul said after a silent (and very long) 15 minutes and the assembly was over. "That new girl."

Jesse clenched his fists. Still not knowing why but he didn't like hearing _Paul _go on about her.

"She's hot! I think I might even ask her out."

"You wouldn't dare." Jesse hissed threateningly.

"Awww, is little Jesse jealous?" Paul patronised him before continuing on, "Too. Damn. Bad."

That was the point at which Jesse snapped. He raised his clenched fists and punched Paul right in the nose.

Blood gushed out of the organ and Paul reeled back in shock.

"You little…"

Paul retaliated with a cocked fist, ready to strike. Only, Jesse managed to dodge and instead rained blows onto Paul's stomach.

"Never talk about her again."

Each word was punctuated with another punch.

"You've never even seen her." Paul rasped out through the pain, stunning Jesse into stopping.

He was right. He hadn't seen her. He'd only heard her name and background from her _stepbrother _and not the girl herself.

It was then that Sister Ernestine came running over.

"Honestly! It's the first day of school! Mr Slater - to the nurses office. Mr de Silva - follow me. And the rest of you - get to class!"

Jesse dejectedly dragged himself behind the vice-principal, kick at the ground in annoyance.

He'd never been in trouble before. Despite his status as jock, Jesse received straight A's. He'd never been in a fight before today. Yet, as soon as word of a new girl reached him, he'd changed.

"Sit."

Sister Ernestine gestured to an empty seat outside the principal's office. Jesse took the seat, keeping his gaze locked on the floor.

Soon, he heard footsteps approaching the reception.

"Hi. I'm new. Susannah Simon?"

That caught Jesse's attention. He looked up to find himself looking at the prettiest girl he'd ever laid eyes on.

"Hey, is this seat taken?"

Jesse wordlessly shook his head and received a smile from the angel.

"I'm Jesse."

He introduced himself using his nickname. It felt right.

"Suze." She replied. "Well, Susannah really."

Seeing his raised eyebrow she explained.

"As in, 'Oh Susannah Don't You Cry For Me.'"

"Susannah," he said, testing it out on his tongue before flashing her a smile. "I like it."

"Thank you." She honoured him with a pretty blush.

"So," Suze began after a moment's silence. "Whatcha in for?"

Jesse laughed.

"Fighting."

They started into an easy conversation then, about the school and the teachers. They found it so easy to talk to each other. Suze couldn't help but admire the movement of Jesse's strong chin as he talked. And what she could see of his chiselled chest.

"This may be a little soon," Jesse began. "But, do you want to, maybe, get a coffee or something? After school?"

Jesse held his breath while Suze's heartbeat sped up.

"Sure," she smiled. "Sounds fun."

"Great."

Before they could make plans. Suze's name was called and she went in to talk to Father Dominic while Jesse stared after her, grinning idiotically.

His giddy mood was soon shattered though, when Paul waltzed through the door. Jesse smiled in satisfaction when he saw the bruising marring Paul's otherwise - apparently - flawless face.

"Hey Jesse." Paul spat out his nick name knowing it would aggravate the other boy.

The name sounded so much better coming from Suze's lips.

"Paul." Jesse gave a curt nod.

"I see you're feeling better," He added with a sneer.

Paul snorted.

"Sure. Whatever."

They sat there in silence until the door to Father Dominic's office opened and Suze walked out while Jesse's name was called.

Paul perked up when he saw her. At least until she walked over to Jesse.

"Meet me here after school, kay?"

"Can't wait," he coolly replied, impulsively kissing her cheek.

He watched as Suze walked on to her first lesson while Jesse walked into the room she just vacated, smirk firmly in place on his face.

'_I bet Paul just loved that.'

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Sorry didn't realise there were so many mistakes. I'm going through the chapters now and editing them. Sorry.


	3. Chapter 3

The day seemed to go by slowly. Jesse stared at the clock wishing for the end of the day to come quicker. He impatiently started to bounce his knee up and down. Spanish just wasn't interesting today. They were going over the basics anyway.

"_¿Que hacer tu tiempo libre?"_

That question being answered the clock struck the hour and the class was dismissed. There are no bells at the mission. To preserve the peaceful environment or something.

Jesse walked out of the classroom and quickly glanced around the courtyard.

"_¡Nombre de Dios!_" He muttered under his breath when he found a sight that angered him all over again.

Paul was walking with Susannah. And they looked quite cosy.

Jesse made his way over to the pair. On hearing footsteps, Suze looked up and beamed at the sight of him.

"Hey Jesse!"

Paul raised an eyebrow at her use of Jesse's nickname.

"Hey." Jesse greeted in reply. "So, how do you know Paul?"

He spat out the name as if it were poison.

'_Oh sure, you're not jealous, are you Jesse?'_ he thought about himself.

"Oh, I just met him in my last class. He offered to walk me to my next class, me being new and all."

"How nice of him." Jesse turned his attention on to Paul. "But I can take it from here."

With that, Jesse walked over to Suze and wrapped a possessive arm around her waist.

"What do you have next, _querida_?"

Suze felt shivers tingle through her from the combination of his deep voice resonating through him - and as a result, through her - and his strong arm cocooned around her.

"Umm, Biology. I think." She replied with a stutter.

"Great. I'm heading in that direction anyway."

"Cool. Bye Paul." Suze waved at him.

"Yeah, bye Paul." Jesse mocked.

Paul replied with a rude gesture in Jesse's direction before turning softened eyes towards Suze.

"Still on for lunch?" He asked her.

"Yeah, sure. Well got to go. Knowledge to learn. Classrooms to find. "

"Wait, wait." Jesse interjected. "What's lunch?"

'_Oh sure. _Definitely _not jealous.'_

Though the question was directed at Suze, it was Paul who answered.

"Lunch," he emphasised the word purposefully, "is the part of the day, usually around midday, when classes stop for an hour and people eat food."

"Ha ha." Jesse sarcastically replied. "What's happening at lunch?"

"Oh," Suze answered this time. "Paul offered to have lunch with me. New School. Make friends and all that."

Before Jesse could reply, Sister Ernestine came running over. She always seemed to be popping up today.

"Get to class!"

The trio realised they were the only one's left in the courtyard.

"I will excuse you just this once as it's the first day back. Just see it doesn't happen again!"

"Yes Sister." All three simultaneously replied.

Without another word, Jesse led Suze away, leaving Paul behind smirking.

When lunch came, Jesse was sick of the paranoia he'd been suffering from. He was sacred Paul might do, or say, something to take Susannah away from him.

Which is why before he left Susannah to go to her own lesson, he managed to persuade her to invite him to join them.

So now, strolling towards the table he saw them at, he was ready to interrupt them.

But on his way there, he froze. He saw the sight that always made him freeze. Despite his sixteen years on the planet, and the eight he'd been aware of his … gift, he still wasn't used to it.

There, in front of Susannah (who had her back to him), was a middle aged man wearing sweats. And he was glowing.

And talking to Suze.

Which could only mean one thing. Susannah was a mediator also.

And it was as soon as he realised that, that the girl in question turned her head and stared straight at him, an inquisitive look on her pretty face. In her beautiful green eyes.

Suze was really starting to regret agreeing to lunch with Paul. Especially when her dad materialised behind him.

"Suze, honey," He began in a commanding tone. "This boy seems like trouble."

Cringing, Suze gestured frantically with her eyes for her dad to leave her alone.

Paul sat there with a smile on his face. His suspicions had been confirmed.

"If I were you," Suze's dad carried on. "I'd spend time with that lovely boy staring at you."

As Suze turned around and looked at who her dad was referring to, Paul did also. He clenched his fists, at the sight of Jesse.

"You know," Paul clenched his teeth before turning around and fixing Suze's dad with a steely look. "I can see you too."

Suze's gasp showed her surprise.

For as long as she could remember, she'd been the only mediator she knew. She'd never told anyone about it for fear of being labelled 'freak'. Though Gina, her best friend back in Brooklyn, had come close to figuring it out. Stupid carnival Psychic.

Now, she'd moved across the country only to meet another one.

Then Jesse came up behind her.

"Susannah?" He asked. "_Querida_, is this ghost bothering you?"

'_Scratch that,' _thought Suze. _'I move all the way across the country to find _two _mediators.'_

What are the odds?

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Again sorry if there's any mistakes, The spellcheck isn't working and im having to do it manually. I don't know the spelling of every word. And if Jesse seems like a jerk when it comes to Paul, he has good reason to be. Which will be explained in later chapters. Thank you D 


	4. Chapter 4

**A.N - Last update until next year. Sorry it took me so long to update. And sorry it's really short. I just haven't been in a writing mood. My New Year's resolution will be to update regularly. D**

**This is for Emily - or as you guys might know her as - Moondancing Millie.

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**Chapter 4**

The ghost flushed in anger and caused the table to start shaking.

"No," he seethed. "I most certainly am not bothering her."

"Jesse," Suze spoke quietly. "Paul. This is my dad."

Jesse looked around flustered at the way he'd spoken to Mr Simon. Paul sat with his eyebrows raised.

"And?"

The only sound that was heard in the small group was the constant rattling or the table - which had stopped, only to start again with Paul's flippant remark.

"You dare to be so rude to Susannah's father?" Cried Jesse, still embarrassed from his earlier blunder.

"Yeah," Paul shrugged. "What's he going to do? The guy's dead."

Paul's uncaring attitude caused shivers to run down Jesse's spine. He knew from experience that Paul wasn't a traditional mediator. He dare not think what Paul had planned for Susannah's dad.

"Well," Paul announced, ignoring the way everyone was staring at him. "Thanks for the date Suze."

Before anyone could reply, Paul had leaned down, kissed Suze's cheek and left.

Jesse was livid. He realised that Susannah's dad had dematerialised - which was probably good, considering what had just happened. He looked over at Susannah, who had jumped up wiping her cheek.

"Eww. _Gross_. Paul spit. On my cheek. That boy needs to learn not to drool."

It was entertaining at least.

More so when girls around them realised what was getting The New Girl so wound up.

"Oh, my gosh." One said to another. "Like, who doesn't want _Paul Slater _to kiss them."

"Totally," the other replied. "I mean, if he'd kissed me - even if it was just a peck on the cheek - I'd, like, die!"

The first girl snorted softly.

"OTT much?"

The girls moved on letting Jesse focus on Susannah again.

"Susannah?" he called. "Don't worry about Slater."

"You call this worrying? Please!" She guffawed. "Disgusted more like it."

Jesse chuckled.

"That's my girl. I'll meet you here after school?"

After a momentary pause of realisation Suze was quick to reply.

"Sure."

She flashed him a brilliant smile and turned to leave.

"Oh, Susannah?"

When she turned around again, he placed a kiss on her other cheek. Where Paul's kiss had revolted her, Jesse's burned. It sent a tingle through her, sent electricity through her veins.

"Hope it doesn't disgust you." He whispered with a smile in his voice before walking away.

It wasn't long before he heard her breathy reply.

"Never."

The end of the day came to slowly for Suze's liking. All through Trig, Suze was continuously looking at the clock and nervously jutting her knee up and down.

Then they were dismissed.

A smile spread across her face. She was going out with Jesse! Jesse, who'd defended her against Paul. Jesse, who was strong and smelt so, so good …

A voice broke her from her thoughts.

"Hey, Suze, you coming?" It was Paul. "Don't want to miss your date with Jesse, do you?"

She fixed him with a glare.

"No. I don't"

She stormed past him, fully intending to go out the door, but she found herself in Paul's grip. His strong fist closed lightly around her forearm, forcibly restraining her.

"Just remember Suze," he leaned in close, breathing into her ear. "He doesn't know half the things I do. Couldn't teach you half as much." He smirked while he added ; "Think about it."

This being said, he lingered a kiss on Suze's strawberry pink lips before leaving her dazed in the classroom.

She stood a while longer before going out to meet Jesse. He stood looking like a god. Bathed in sunlight which highlighted his even tan.

"Hey!" he said when he saw her.

"Hey, sorry I'm late," she apologised. "Kept behind in Trig."

It wasn't a total lie.

"No problem." He smiled blindingly at her. "Come on. I know the perfect place to go."

Suze smiled and allowed herself to be led away by this gorgeous boy.

So, why was Paul's voice echoing in her head?

'_He doesn't know half the things I know.'_

About What?

'_Couldn't teach you half as much.'_

About What?!

'_Think about it.'_


	5. Chapter 5

**A.N - I hope you all had a happy new year and I'm sorry in the delay for updating this. It was around this chapter that the plot ran away with me. So I'm not responsible anymore. If it sucks, blame the pen i used. :)

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Chapter 5

"So," Jesse said after taking a sip of his coffee. This was probably going to be the most awkward conversation ever, but he couldn't help it. "You're a mediator?"

Suze sighed. She knew this was going to come up.

"Yes." She replied.

"How did you find out?"

"My dad died when I was six. He explained it to me. Pops in from time to time." She smiled then, "you met him earlier."

Jesse just smiled back and took another sip from his steaming cup.

"So," Suze breathed out. "Family?"

"Mom, Dad and five sisters. You?"

"Mom, Step-dad and three step brothers."

"Pets?" Jesse asked.

From there the conversation developed easily into a game of twenty questions. They bickered and exchanged banter. Before they knew it, it was time for Jesse to take Suze home.

"Thank you Susannah." He said quietly.

"For what?"

"Jesse smiled. "For making this the best first day back in history."

It was Suze's turn to smile.

"Really?" There was a glint in her eye as she playfully flirted with him. She whispered into his ear.

"Well, I suppose I also have someone to thank for making me feel so welcome."

Jesse's voice lowered as he too started whispering.

"And who's that?"

They leaned in closer and barely tickled the other's lips before Suze pulled away.

"Paul," her voice was back to it's normal bouncy quality. "Duh!"

Jesse literally growled and pulled Susannah to him.

"Don't mention him in front of me. Ever."

Suze just smiled.

"Did you just _growl?_"

He growled again playfully before leaning down and capturing her lips with his own.

_Her lips tasted like strawberries_, that's all Jesse had time to think of before losing himself in the sensations of the kiss. They reluctantly pulled apart but rested their foreheads together, needing the contact.

"Thank you Jesse."

"For what?" He repeated her words back to her.

"For making this the best first day back in history."

He pressed another chaste kiss to her lips.

"You're welcome."

Jesse started to back away, down the drive and towards his car.

"See you tomorrow?" He called.

"Definitely."

They smiled giddily at each other before Suze turned around and let herself into her house. When the door was shut, she leaned back against it and sighed, basking in the moment.

"Susie, honey?" Her mother's voice screeched at her. "Is that you?"

_Bye-Bye Moment._

"Yeah mom, it's me."

This time her sigh was in irritation.

"Well come in here then, you almost missed dinner."

Suze rolled her eyes. Dinner in the Ackerman household was such a big deal. Nevertheless, she went through to the dining room where Andy, her mom, Brad and her youngest step brother David were.

"Hey, how come Jake isn't here?" Suze wondered out loud.

"He's working." Andy was the one who answered.

"Oh, right. Yeah. I remember."

Her mom decided to play happy families by asking how their first day back was.

"It was okay," Suze told her mom. "I made some new friends, got some new books. You know. _Schoolish_."

"Oh, that's good Susie."

They were still in the awkward new phase. Though Suze made sure only her mom could get away with calling her Susie by shooting glares at whichever of her step-brothers happened to be around when it was said. Despite the fact Andy and her mom had been married for a while, Suze had finished out her school year at Brooklyn and moved over to sunny California during Summer vacation. The Ackerman boys' were still dealing with suddenly having two women in the house. (As opposed to just Suze's mom).

After everyone had finished, Brad dutifully got up and started dish duty - grumbling, but still doing it. Another Ackerman … _thing_. Each child took it in turns loading the dishwasher after every meal. Parents cook … Children clean. Or something.

"I'm gonna head on upstairs." Suze announced.

"Okay honey."

That sounded so strange coming from Andy.

"Yeah, right. Bye then."

Suze ran upstairs without another word. Her mom and Andy's new house was old. When Suze first saw it, she was terrified there would be ghosts riddling the place. So far, it had been relatively ghost free.

So, when Suze walked into her - totally girly - bedroom, she froze.

There innocently sitting on her bed was a teenage boy with a glowing aura around him.

"So, you're the mediator." He coolly stated.

"Yeah, that's me. Why are you here."

The door slammed shut accompanied by a shout signalling Jake's arrival home.

"That's my bet." The ghost said.


	6. Chapter 6

**A.N - Sorry it's been a while and that i haven't replied to any reviews. It's been a busy time and I promise i will from now on. This chapter is full of dialogue. Way too much of it.**

**It's also dedicated to Moondancing Millie and I'd like to tell you about the fic we're planning. It's about Jesse -duh- and It's called Lady of the Night. Stay tuned. D

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Chapter 6

"You're here," Suze asked incredulously, "because of Jake?"

The ghost rolled his eyes.

"No, not Jake. The guy with Jake."

"There's a guy with Jake?"

"Go see."

Suze looked at the ghost suspiciously before walking downstairs. She found that Jake had brought a friend home. Like the still-nameless ghost upstairs said.

"Oh, hey Suze." Jake said when he saw her. "This is Neil Jankow, from college. I met up with him after my shift ended. Neil this is my step-sister Suze."

"Oh, cool. Hey." Suze said after introductions had been made. Okay so the ghost was right, now she need to get upstairs and figure out why that damn ghost was here. "Well, I just came down to see what the noise was about. And to grab a drink. Gotta go now. Homework awaits."

After going into the kitchen and grabbing a glass of OJ, she quickly ran back upstairs to her bedroom.

"Okay," she announced when she walked into her bedroom, setting the glass down on the desk, "Jake brought a friend home." She shut the door behind her. "That still doesn't explain why you're -"

She looked around the room for the first time since re-entering only to find it empty.

"- not here." She finished lamely to herself.

"Stupid ghosts. They don't have lives so they stop me from living mine. Doesn't seem fair." She continued to mumble under her breath until the phone rang.

She jumped as she was pulled out of her ramblings by a loud ringer. The phone was never for her and this call would be no exception. She hadn't given out her number yet anyway. Not even to Jesse,

Suze shook her head and started unpacking her bag, groaning when she saw the thick books she'd been forced to lug around with her. It's only the _first _day back.

"Suze, honey, it's for you."

Startled, she picked up the phone in her bedroom and called downstairs, "I got it mom!"

"Hello?" She asked down the line once her mom had hung up, twisting the cord around her fingers.

"Hey Suze, you busy?"

"Paul." She greeted. "Nope. Homework can wait."

"Great. I was wondering if we could meet up? Expand on our earlier … conversation."

Suze's interest was piqued.

"You mean about what you can teach me?"

"Uh-huh," He replied simply. "Interested?"

"Little bit." She admitted.

Paul was smirking on the other end of the line, this was way too easy.

"Knew you would be. Meet you in an hour?"

"It's getting late." Suze was unsure. "My mom wouldn't let me out of the front door."

"So sneak out. I'm sure you've done it before."

The fact there was no reply gave him the answer he'd expected.

"Thought so. My house? Scenic Drive."

"Okay," she sighed. "An hour?"

"One hour." He replied. "See you then."

The dial tone rang in her ear. God, rude much? He didn't even say goodbye.

_Well, guess I have an hour to waste. Could always do homework …_

"You know," her recent new ghost friend arrived shocking her from her thoughts, "he doesn't seem very nice."

Suze was the one who rolled her eyes this time.

"Okay," she said. "One, who? And two, where did you go earlier?"

The ghost held up one finger, "The guy you were talking to," another finger, "following my brother."

Suze was stunned into silence.

"Okay who are you?"

"I'm Craig Jankow." He replied evenly,

_Jankow. _Where had she heard that name before?

"Wait your brother is Neil? Jake's friend. That makes more sense then you hanging around because of Jake."

The ghost's eyes darkened at his brother's name.

"He should've died. Not me."

"Woah," Suze held up her hands. "Grudge much?"

Craig just looked at her.

"Well, explain then." She urged. Why should he have died? It's obviously why you're still here. You just have to realise it was your time to go and -"

"It wasn't my time!"

She really hated when ghosts were angry. _Really _hated it. They started to … move things. Which make unexplainable noises and messes. How do you explain that to everyone? _Oh there was just this ghost. I swear it wasn't me. _Because that goes over well. No one would think she was crazy. No.

"Okay, calm down." Best to stop the mess from happening in the first place and try to reason with the angry ghost. "Tell me what happened."

"How about you ask the living one."

It was more a command then anything else. It was also his last words before disappearing.

Ghosts so had an unfair advantage there.

With a sigh and a shake of her head, Suze started on her piles of homework.

"You're late." Paul growled when she pulled up to his house finally.

"Sorry!"

"Never mind. Come in."

He opened the door and let her through, standing by when she looked around appreciatively.

"Come on."

He walked away down a pristine-clean hallway leaving Suze to follow behind him.

"Not to be rude," Suze began, "but why am I here exactly? At 10 o'clock in the night no less."

Paul just sat on his bed and patted the space next to him.

"You know Suze, you don't know as much as you think you do."

Suze just sat there, confused.

"What you are, we are, is not a Mediator. We're something much more. Helping ghosts 'move on' is for people like Hector and Father Dominic."

"Father D's a mediator?"

"Yeah, didn't you know?" Paul seemed genuinely surprised.

Suze wordlessly shook her head.

"Well, yeah, he is. Anyway," Paul continued. "You and me, we're not. We're shifters Suze. Our powers go beyond those of a mediator."

"What's a shifter?"

"That," Paul smirked, "is exactly why you're here. To learn."


	7. Chapter 7

**A.N - Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. And the first two of Lady of The Night. We're really having fun writing that one. And I'm getting better at replying to my reviews. Honest.**

**Anyway, chapter 7. Here you go. D

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Chapter 7

"Shifters," Paul announced, "were first found in Ancient Egypt. A Dr Oliver Slaski found there were humans that can travel in and out of the realm of the dead, without dying themselves."

He recited it as if it had been memorized, making it sound monotonous and boring.

Suze sat on Paul's bed with a blank face, absorbing the information.

"Look if you don't believe me."

Paul said after seeing, and misinterpreting, her facial expression.

He pulled out a clear box from under his bed and took out a newspaper article from the '50's. On it, there was a picture of a man standing in front of a wall of Egyptian hieroglyphs, obviously inside a tomb of some kind. There was writing stating more or less what Paul had told her. Only it contained stuff about shamans and kings.

"So," Suze began after a moment of silence. "What you mean to tell me is that mediators -"

"Shifters." Paul corrected.

"Whatever. Is that _shifters _can visit Purgatory?"

Paul nodded. "Pretty much."

"Have you ever been there?"

"No, I haven't."

"Oh." Suze seemed disappointed. "Well, thanks for the information but I think I'll stick with plain old mediating. It's getting late. I'd better go."

"Wait," Paul stopped her leaving. "Don't you want to know how to shift?"

"Not particularly. Bye Paul."

She was gone before Paul had a chance to tell her about the time-travelling, let alone the soul transference.

"Damn."

He said into the empty room while slamming his fist down onto his desk.

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"Suze, get your lazy ass up! We're going to be late!"

Suze threw the pillow over her head trying to muffle Brad's demanding voice.

Last night she'd gotten like no sleep, having arrived home at midnight. Her body was exhausted. Too much exercise after a lazy summer, she guessed. Her mind, on the other hand, was buzzing with the day's events.

Meeting Jesse (sigh) … Angry ghost in the form of Dad … Kissing Jesse (double sigh) … Strange ghost with a vendetta against his brother. Oh yeah, and Paul with his 'shifter' talk.

The result was she'd only ended up getting a few hours sleep. She was so going to look like such a mess today.

"Suze! Wake up!"

Brad banged furiously on the door to her room.

"Alright, I'm up!" She called back through, reluctantly dragging herself from the warm haven that was her bed.

"About time. You've got about half an hour before we leave."

Thankfully, he left then. Suze ordered her feet to take her to the mirror of her adjoining bathroom and grimaced at what she saw.

'_Ugh. Like half an hour will do anything useful.'_

It was not going to be a good day, she could tell.

Feeling disgusting and groggy, Suze pulled on her well-worn jeans and favourite black leather jacket, and went downstairs to scrape together some breakfast.

Her mum and Andy, along with all three boys, were in the room.

"Susie, honey," her mom started, "is anything wrong? You woke up so late."

Suze rolled her eyes, "I'm fine mom."

"Are you sure?" Andy asked, playing the adoring dad. "You can't still have jet lag can you?"

"No, I don't," Suze tried to convince her mom and step-dad. "really, I'm fine. Just had a bit of a late night last night. All the excitement of a new school year, I suppose."

Both adults seemed to accept this explanation and carried on with their conversation from before she had walked into the room.

A horn beeped from outside, alerting Suze to the fact that, during her conversation with her mom and Andy, Brad and Dave were waiting in the car. Jake had already gone to college, driving his new Camaro - which took forever, and a lot of Pizza Delivery shifts, for him to save up for.

"Oops, I'm late. Bye mom, bye Andy."

Suze ran out of the kitchen, before waiting for a response, and jumped into the Land Rover belonging to the Ackerman children. (And now their step-sister). Brad sped off towards the Mission.

Throughout the relatively short drive, Suze's eyes remained focused on the Pacific Ocean. It was constant, reliable. Always there. It was comforting, in a strange way.

The car swerved into the parking lot and shuddered to a stop. Brad's driving, so not going to go there. Suze climbed out of the car and looked around. They were earlier then she thought, judging by the amount of students already here.

"Susannah, hey!"

Her heart fluttered when she heard his voice. Jesse.

He walked over and enveloped her in his strong arms before kissing her. They separated but remained holding hands needing to stay connected someway.

"Hey back at you." Suze said smiling.

They walked to the front of the school and waited for morning assembly to start. The girls cast jealous glares Suze's way while the boys whistled and hooted.

"Don't worry if anyone says anything," Jesse whispered, feeling Suze's unease. "You're my girl now."

Suze's heart was beating rapidly at his possessive words but she smiled up at him before kissing his cheek softly.

Paul watched the whole scene with disgust.

"You're not going to get the girl again, De Silva," he vowed to himself. "Even if I have to get rid of this one too."


	8. Chapter 8

**A.N - Sorry about the delay. Monday I typed up Lady of the Night instead of this and then Tuesday my computer crashed. Yesterday i had a test to revise for. So its today. Hope you enjoy this. I like it.

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Chapter 8

Lunchtime came around and Jesse met up with Susannah before taking her hand and walking to an empty table. He proudly showed off his new girlfriend, revelling in the looks the other pupils cast their way.

Jesse felt like he'd known Susannah his whole life, and not the reality of just over a day.

He sighed happily as he began eating his lunch.

"Jesse?"

He loved the sound of that name coming from her lips.

"Yes Querida?"

"Have you … Have you ever…" She was nervous. Suze took a deep breath and carried on. "Heard of shifters. Have you ever heard of shifters?" She repeated more coherently.

Jesse was shocked.

_Shifters._

He'd heard of them. _Paul _had told him. Jesse gritted his teeth ad he realised that Paul must have told Susannah about them as well.

"Yes," he replied. "Paul has mentioned them."

"Oh," that clearly wasn't the answer she'd been expecting. "So, you believe him?"

Jesse said nothing, only clenched his fists as memories of the previous summer jumped to the front of his mind.

"Jesse," she wasn't sure how to approach this question either, she knew it could be painful for him. "Why do you hate Paul?"

Jesse closed his eyes. The dreaded question. He'd been waiting for her to ask it but the answer was something he never wanted to bring up. Not now anyway.

"Querida," his voice sounded tired and heavy. Jesse held one of her hands in both his own as he gave her a reply. "I promise I will tell you why I hate Paul Slater. I just can't now. Soon." He promised.

He pressed his lips to the inside of her wrist, on her pulse point, and Suze instantly melted.

"Okay." She smiled and reached over to softly kiss him. That kiss told him she understood. That she accepted the fact that he needed more time before he could talk about it. His past.

"Hector!" A voice shouted from behind the couple, interrupting their embrace. "You coming?"

Jesse reluctantly pulled away from his Susannah before groaning as he remembered where he had to be. "Yeah, be right there!" He called back.

He turned to Susannah with apologetic eyes.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I forgot I have this soccer thing. Meeting with coach."

"It's okay." Suze spoke softly and watched as he left with his friend and team mate. She smiled as he turned back and blew her a kiss. If she didn't know any better, she'd think she was in love.

Jesse ran to catch up with his team mates but stopped completely when he saw that Paul was heading in the direction Jesse had just come from.

"Slater!" Jesse called out.

"De Silva." Paul said coolly.

"You better not be going to see my girlfriend. You've done enough with your talk of shifters."

Paul raised an eyebrow. "Oh, she told you about that, did she?"

"Well, yes." Jesse threw him a smirk and a lift of his own eyebrows as he continued in a way that made it sound like the answer was obvious. "I am her boyfriend."

He was purposefully rubbing it in the other boy's face. Susannah had chosen Jesse and not Paul Slater.

"Well," Paul was angry. He wanted to make Jesse jealous and insecure. "Did she tell you that she came to my house last night." He smirked at the way Jesse's face dramatically paled. "and that she didn't leave until gone midnight?"

Paul's smirk increased as Jesse stood in front of him stunned.

"Hector! You're late." The boy from before jogged over to Jesse when he realised he hadn't been behind him. "Coach is going to be so mad at you."

"I'll tell Suze you said hey." Paul patronised the helpless Jesse as he was practically dragged away by his friend.

Paul laughed to himself then scanned the area for where Suze had gone, as she was not at the table anymore. He saw her talking to Cee Cee Wells and Adam McTavish.

He rolled his eyes. She could do so much better then those two freaks as friends. Nevertheless, he put on his most charming smile and made his way over to the trio.

"Hey Suze," he said sitting himself down in the seat next to her.

Suze visibly shuddered and moved away from him.

"What do you want, Paul?" She hissed.

"Just wondering if you'd thought about last night is all."

He'd said it in a way that made it seem like something had actually happened between the two of them. Cee Cee' and Adam's interest was piqued.

"No." She replied shortly. "And I never will!" She lowered her voice so only he could hear. "Shifters can't be real anyway."

Paul grew angry. She'd just cast him and his teachings aside. Maybe she'd believe it if her boyfriend was involved.

"Ask Jesse," he shrugged. "He's done it. Shifted."

"You're lying," Suze accused him. "He would have told me. We were talking about it all earlier.

She still didn't believe him, Paul realised as he sighed quite dramatically.

"Well, talk some more. He's shifted, gone to Purgatory or whatever you want to call it."

Suze paled, not unlike the way her boyfriend had done earlier. "No," she stubbornly refused to believe this. "He would have told me."

_This is just perfect_, Paul thought. _Not only do I get my revenge on him, I also get Suze to start doubting Jesse's honesty._

"Ever wonder why he hates me?" Paul said out loud, not realising that Suze had, more or less, posed that question to the boy in question not five minutes earlier.

"Ask him about Georgie," Paul continued. "Then you'll get your answer."

And then Paul had left the table and was walking towards the building of the church where classes were held.

"Well," Adam broke the silence that had settled upon the small group. "That was … confusing, to say the least."

"Yeah," Cee Cee continued, "What was that about?"

Both stared at Suze - who was looking decidedly ill - waiting for an answer.

"I don't know," she finally replied honestly. And she really didn't. She didn't know anything anymore. Especially if what Paul said was right …

Suze shook her head, wanting to forget the entire conversation. "I better be going." She informed her two friends. "Classes and all that. See you."

She received two 'bye's' in return and went to walk to her next lesson.

---

Jesse had come back to the lunch tables, hoping to catch Suze before she left, after his meeting finished. He spotted her walking away from him.

"Susannah!" He called out to her.

But she kept on walking.

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**Ooff. Sorry. Angst wont last long. Plus some Paul/Jesse hate next chap. D**


	9. Chapter 9

**A.N - Yeah, this chapter is short, I know. Next one will make up for it - hopefully.**

**Thanks to everyone whos been reviewing. Makes me smile when I get them.**

**If i can. I'd like to dedicate this chapter to ****Double-O-9-and-a-half** **for inspiring me to make the Jesse/Paul hate bit more physical. D**  


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**Chapter 9**

"Susannah!"

She heard his voice call her name, trying to get her attention. But she didn't want to talk. He had, effectively, lied to her. Paul hadn't only mentioned shifters to him, Paul had showed him how to do it. And he had. For someone named Georgie. No, she didn't feel like talking.

"Susannah?"

His voice sounded small and pathetic, even to his own ears. Was she ignoring him? Or could she genuinely not hear him?

"Tough break."

Jesse gritted his teeth at the sound of the voice. _Paul_.

"What did you say to her?"

Paul smirked. "Oh, a bit of this, bit of that."

"I'm serious, Slater. What. Did. You. Say?" Jesse hissed out in his anger at the other boy.

Lunchtime was over then, all the students started filing out to their next lessons.

"Oops, sorry," Paul said in mock sympathy. "Ran out of time."

Paul turned around and walked away with the rest of the students.

Jesse growled in frustration.

"Oh, yeah, Jesse?" Paul spat out his nickname while turning his head back slightly as he spoke. "Be prepared to talk about Georgie."

He paled at this news. He wasn't ready to go into it, he'd eve said so at lunch - before this mess with Paul.

"Oh," Paul added. "And that you've shifted. I thought you'd have told her that for sure. 'My first trip to shadow land was to save the love of my life'. Something to write home about, don't you think?"

Jesse grew angry then. Paul had taken it too far. He could deal with telling her about Georgie but this? Susannah would think he lied to her. His fists clenched together at his sides. All it took was one look at Paul's smirking face and he let loose, punching the boy's nose so hard that he fell onto the floor.

"You deserve everything you get." Paul said hatefully, stemming the flow of blood from his nose while getting up off the floor. "And when you two finally do break up - officially, because I'm sure you have already - Suze can move onto a real man." He puffed out his chest as if to prove a point.

Jesse didn't even reply with a degrading statement, as he normally would have - hitting him where it hurts. He was just standing there, arms hanging heavily at his side ; fists caked with a thin layer of the other boy's blood.

Paul walked back over to Jesse and slapped his cheeks succeeding in jumping the boy out of his stupor.

"Stay away from her." Jesse warned confidently before turning away and running towards the one person he'd always been able to rely on, leaving Paul staring confusedly after him.

---------------------------------

"I don't know why he does it," Jesse complained from his seat in front of the desk. "I really don't. Why does he hate me so much to do this to me? To Susannah. Why, _Padre_?"

Father Dominic remained quiet throughout the boys story, processing all the information that was being given to him. Jesse's was certainly … different then any of the other student's lives. Except Paul, of course, and now, it seemed, Susannah Simon.

"I think," the principal began softly. "That the best cause of action right now would be to talk to Miss Simon. Tell her everything. Then you can both deal with Paul."

Jesse nodded, agreeing with the man. He had to work things out with Suze, that was certain. He had to tell her about his past.

"But it still doesn't explain Paul's hatred of me." Jesse frowned.

"No, that still goes unexplained," Father Dominic agreed. "But that will have to do for now. Letting Miss Simon know everything should probably be your main concern."

Jesse smiled at how close the man's thoughts was to his own. "Yeah," he stated. "Before Slater manages to convince her to try shifting would probably be best. She doesn't need to know what it's like." Jesse's eyes glassed over as he remembered his own shifting experience.

"Perhaps, you should take the rest of the day off?" Father Dominic offered, concerned for the young man in front of him.

"No. I'll go. I've got Spanish now anyway. Thank you, _Padre_."

The principal merely smiled as Jesse left his office.

------------------------------

He was a fool for thinking he was going to be able to pay attention to the lesson. Jesse rolled his eyes at himself. He was just glad School was over soon. Then he could sort things out with Suze.

_Dios_, he hoped she saw things his way. If she broke up with him and started going out with Paul instead … Well, he'd kill him for one. Paul, that is.

Again he wondered why Susannah meant so much to him. He'd only known her for a day. He'd been drawn to her since he'd found out there was going to be a New Girl attending the Junipero Mission Academy. He felt like he knew her a lot longer.

He sighed and put his head in his hands. He really couldn't wait for the end of school.

_Just one more lesson._


	10. Chapter 10

**A.N - Got this out a bit earlier because Moondancing Millie and I are proper excited about the next chapter of Lady of The Night which should be up tomorrow.**

** Also, Happy belated Birthday to Maz.**

**And I'd also like to say thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter. The most response for this story yet. Thank you guys.

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Chapter 10

Suze's thoughts were a confused mess. She had ignore Jesse and listened to Paul. Shifter and the thought of what they could, apparently, do were haunting her. She felt a headache coming on.

Claiming she was going to see the nurse - which she really intended on doing - Suze received a pass and left the classroom.

Paul still had Jesse's warning of 'Stay away from her' ringing in his head when he looked up and saw the girl in question walking along the hall.

'_If only Jesse had waited a minute longer,' _Paul thought evilly. _'Oh Well. His loss.'_

"Hey Suze!" Paul called out before jogging quickly over to her.

"Not now Paul." She sounded so tired, fed up.

"But Suze, don't you want to learn how to shift?"

Paul watched as the different expressions played over her face. He knew she was warring with her better judgement. She wanted to learn, just not with him. He shouldn't have let on to the fact Jesse knew how as well.

"I was only going to see the nurse …" She explained half-heartedly, gesturing weakly in the direction she had been walking.

"Well, now you're coming with me." Paul held out his hand and genuinely smiled. "Come on."

Suze looked unsure. Her gaze darted between the nurse's office, Paul's hand and Paul himself, before it finally settled on his face. All she saw was honesty. He wasn't going to do anything to her.

Sighing, she put her hand in his, feeling the warmness of his fingers seeping into her own. She … trusted him. To a certain extent.

Paul led her out to the back of the school where there was a small cemetery.

"Huh," Suze said looking around. "I Didn't know this was here."

Paul shrugged.

"We're going to need privacy," he explained. "When you shift, your body is left behind. We don't want anybody walking over and finding both of us out cold." He smirked a little. "Not to mention skipping class."

Suze chewed on her bottom lip nervously.

"I suppose," she agreed. "But Paul, I kind of don't want to physically shift. Can we just talk about it?"

"I know," his eyes sparkled. "And after we talk. You'll want to. Trust me."

Suze shook her head in the negative. Paul simply shrugged again.

"We'll see," he replied cryptically.

He gestured to a patch of grass nearby where they could sit. It's funny really, both of them couldn't help but think. You'd think that cemeteries would be swarming with ghosts, but they're not.

As they sat, Paul explained to Suze how to shift. Shut your eyes, picture the place you want to go and _voila! _you're there. Apparantly, you could shift through time as well. But it was complicated and not recommended.

True to his word, the more she heard, the more she wanted to actually experience it. The excitement in her voice alerted Paul to that fact too.

"So," he said. "Ready to shift?"

Suze hesitantly nodded, not really wanting to admit that he was right and that she had changed her mind.

Paul help out his hand to her. Suze looked at the offending appendage pointedly and it's owner rolled his eyes.

"Come on Suze," he replied exasperatedly. "You don't know what Purgatory looks like. If I'm touching you, I can take you there with me. Just take the damn hand."

She had just slowly put her hand in his and closed her eyes ready for a new sensation to overtake her when she felt someone standing behind her. Someone with an unearthly glow.

Suze snatched her hand back from Paul.

"You!" She exclaimed to the ghost. "You just disappeared last night! How am I suppose to help you if I don't even know your name?!"

Paul galred at the intruder. It seemed like no one wanted him to be alone with Suze. At least not for long.

"Who the hell are you?" He spat angrily.

The ghost looked angry, when he's been alive everyone had known who he was. Now they wanted to know how fast they could get rid of him. He started shaking with the intensity of the feelings bubbling inside of him.

"I shouldn't be dead! That's how you can help me, mediator," he pointed a finger at Suze, "make me alive again!"

Suze rolled her eyes. If she had a dollar for every time a ghost said that …

"Look, … ghost," Suze scrunched up her nose, remembering she still didn't know his name. "That's not possible but there's something keeping you here. Keeping you from moving one."

"I shouldn't be dead! That's what's keeping me from moving on. My brother should be the one stuck like this."

"You want your brother to die? So you're going to enact some kind of revenge? Kill him so that you're not the only brother dead?"

"Hey, that's not a bad idea…"

Suze jumped up to grab the ghost's arm, which was totally pointless as he could just dematerialise. It stopped him though.

"Wait, you can't kill your brother!" She tried to reason with him.

"Look, you don't understand. Neil should have died. He's not the champion swimmer, yet he was the one who managed to hold onto the boat longer. It's not fair."

"Neil? As in Jake's friend?" Suze asked.

The ghost cast her a duh look that clearly said she should have figured it on sooner.

"Yes." He rolled his eyes. "I'm Craig. Now let me go and let me kill my brother."

You'd have thought that hearing yourself say such a ridiculous thing out loud would put the idea out of your head. Evidently not, in Craig's case at least.

"Who says both of you have to die?" Paul spoke up for the first time since his earlier livid outburst.

His statement was met with two blank, un believing faces.

"What if I told you there was a way you and your brother could switch places?"


	11. Chapter 11

**A.N - Hey guys, thanks for all your reviews again. It really brightens up my day. xD. **

**I'm sorry for the lack of Jess/Suze in this chapter. It's getting there. Quite a nice chapter up ahead. But then I get confused with the plot myself. So I'm sorry in advance.**

**To everyone who reads Lady of The Night, Sorry it wasn't updated today. It has been quite busy for Moondancing Millie and I but we had a massive brainstorm at lunchtime. So great plot lines coming up. And I know she's working on a new Meant To Be chapter so watch out for that.**

**This is being posted again. Because i got told of a typo. Which i didn't mean to do. Thank you. xD**

**Anyway, without further ado, Chapter 11 of The Girl. ****

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**Chapter 11**

"I'm listening." Craig lifted one eyebrow.

"Yeah, well," Paul said spitefully. "You interrupted my date so, too bad, I'm not telling. Sucks to be you right about now."

Craig looked thoroughly pissed off but Paul just turned away and smirked at Suze. Who had a similar expression on her face to Craig's.

"This wasn't a date." She practically hissed. "It was a lesson and, sorry, but I don't date my teachers." She walked away before stopping like she'd forgotten something. "Oh yeah," she added thoughtfully. "Sucks to be you."

Suze threw his hurtful expression back at him, the one he'd sent to Craig. Then she stormed back towards the school. She had missed way to much of her lesson and she should really get back to class.

"So," Craig droned after the somewhat dramatic exit of the other mediator, "about this switching places thing…"

"Forget it," Paul sneered. "Suze wouldn't allow it. Not to mention the other one."

Craig's eyes widened.

"There's another one?! How many of you mediators are there?"

Paul glared at him before answering with a curt, "five, in Carmel that I know of at least."

"Go now," the mediator demanded. "And maybe I'll help you after."

"Why should I take your word for it?"

Paul just looked amused. "It's not like many other people are going to help you, is it?"

The ghost glowered and disappeared in an angry flash, leaving Paul alone in a graveyard. He heard the sound of chatter in the distance and knew that the lesson had just finished. He should really get back to lessons. And hopefully, he'd see Suze again.

----------------------

He didn't. Either she'd gone home, or she was doing a very good job of avoiding him. He was betting on the latter. It was the end of school and Paul hadn't seen Suze since the whole fiasco after lunch.

He was determined to make her see what a shifter could do. She was going to try it, until ghost boy came along and ruined everything.

The only good part of the day - excluding the time that him and Suze were actually getting along - was the thing with Jesse. It felt good to cause the happy couple to have some misery.

After all, Jesse had gotten Georgie. He was not going to have Suze as well.

Paul looked around for Suze, unwavering from his decision to catch her before she left school. The Ackerman's car was still there so, unless she had walked home (which Paul severely doubted), there was still hope. He snickered a little when he saw Jesse desperately looking around the building also, obviously looking for Suze.

"Trouble in Paradise, Hector?" Paul sniggered.

Jesse caught the look Paul threw him and glared equally as hatefully back.

"None of your business, Slater." He rasped out through gritted teeth.

Paul just laughed.

"Well," he said, "if there is, she's not upset. If anything, she's happy. She and I got quite … close after lunch."

Paul let the implication lie there for Jesse to take as he wanted. It was a lie, of course, but sure enough, Jesse immediately angered as the worst thought haunted him. Getting close could mean just talking, then again, it could mean something else entirely.

"I told you," Jesse threatened. "To leave her alone."

"Not my fault if she didn't want to be." Paul retorted. "Left alone, that is." He clarified as an after thought.

The other boy clenched his fists. _I won't hit him. I won't. _

He wasn't worth it.

_But Susannah is, _a voice chimed in the back of his head.

Jesse closed his eyes and dug his nails into his palm. After a significant amount of time, he opened his eyes again to see Paul's smirking features. And Susannah's figure behind him.

He wasted no time in running over to her. He needed to explain about Georgie. And the shifting. Which he was not proud of and would not recommend to anyone.

"Susannah," he called. "Wait, please."

"Jesse," she whispered almost inaudibly. "Don't. Just Don't."

Paul's smirk grew as he watched Suze shake her head and walk away. But Jesse had run after her and stopped her again. He watched with a frown as Suze stopped to listen before nodding hesitantly and accepting a kiss on the cheek.

"It's not over yet, De Silva." The boy vowed silently. "You're not going to win. Not this time. I will break you two up if it kills me."


	12. Chapter 12

**A.N - Sorry for the massive delay in posting this. But anyone who reads Lady of The Night will know why. Going to Spain! Where x-Moondancing Millie-x and I shall write many chapters I really like where we are taking that story.**

**Anyway, this should bring an end to all the angst thats been in this story. And hopefully, it'll be worth the wait.

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Chapter 12

"Jesse," she whispered almost inaudibly. "Don't. Just don't."

Jesse stood there helplessly as she shook her head and walked away.

_No, _his mind screamed. _You've got to explain this to her._

"Susannah," he said jogging over to her. "Please just let me talk. I promise I'll tell you everything."

She turned around hesitantly before nodding. Jesse broke out in a huge grin.

"Coffee place, six-ish?" He asked.

"Yeah," Suze replied. "Sounds good."

Jesse leaned forward and kissed her cheek, accepting the fact it was all he was going to get for the moment. At least it was more than Paul.

A scowl settled over his face. _It better be more then Paul._

He was relieved Susannah had left before seeing the jealousy on his face. If she knew how he was possessive he was getting over her, she might get scared. And Paul might take his place at her side.

He couldn't deal if that was the case.

Now, Jesse was cursing himself for making their time of meeting so far away. He had nothing to do until six.

Sighing, he drove to the beach. He loved it. And the sea. It helped him to relax, helped him to think. It would also help to pass the time.

He didn't know how long he spent there. Watching the way the sun glinted off the rippling water. But soon it was time to see Suze, finally explain the story behind Georgia. And why he hated Paul.

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"Hey querida," Jesse greeted when he saw her.

"Hey Jesse."

They sat in an awkward silence then, Jesse nervously tapping the table between them.

"Susannah," he finally broke the silence. "I'm sorry, I should have told you about Georgie earlier."

"Who is Georgie?" She asked quietly.

Jesse sighed, knowing that the time had come for her to know.

"Georgie," he began. "Was the one that told me what a mediator is and does. She was a ghost who lived in my room."

Suze got up and walked around to his side of the table.

Jesse turned to look at her.

"I think I loved her." He whispered.

Suze froze before gulping loudly.

"You loved her?" She asked.

"Yeah." He smiled wistfully. "she was just always there. Ever since I moved to Carmel. I could rely on her."

"Wait a minute," Suze stopped him in his explanation. "Was? As in past tense?"

Jesse glowered at the thought of what was to come.

"Enter Paul," Suze said softly, guessing the next part of the story.

Jesse smiled wryly at her.

"Yeah, I met Paul over the summer. He was a guest at the hotel where I was working. When I found out he was a mediator too, we got closer. Started telling each other more. I told him about Georgie, he told me about shifters." Jesse shrugged.

"So," Suze hated to push him but she wanted to know the rest. "What happened then?"

"Paul got it into his that he could have Georgie for himself." Jesse continued. "She didn't like him but he wouldn't give up. Eventually, Paul took the hint and became angry."

Suze sucked in a breath at the thought of what Paul would do ; she entwined their fingers together.

"He tried to distance us firstly, but it didn't work." Jesse grinned. "We were both to stubborn to let one another go." His smile faded. "But then, he got jealous. He said if he couldn't have her, I couldn't either. He exorcised her one night when I wasn't home."

Jesse felt tears come to his eyes at the painful memories.

"That was the first and only time I've shifted." Jesse told her though watery eyes. "I shut my eyes and pictured Georgiana's face and when I opened them again, I was in Shadowland.

"I found her but she didn't want to come back. She wanted to stay there and gain a place in heaven. She said she'd been stuck down there for too long. It was when I felt my heart break that I realised that I loved her."

Suze was openly crying at this point - and it was not something she did. At all. She embraced Jesse and held him close as he gained control of himself.

"I can't let him get rid of you as well." Jesse seethed. "Paul Slater is the type of person who could kill someone is he didn't get his own way."

"Shh, it's okay, Jesse." Suze soothed him. "I'm here. With you. I won't let him break us up."

Jesse raised his head at that. "We're together again?" He sounded so shy.

"Did we ever break up?" She teased with a huge smile.

Jesse whooped and pulled her closer to him. He peppered kisses all over her face before kissing her, properly, on her soft pink lips.

He knew they hadn't seen the last of Paul but, right now, he was happy, with his girl in his arms, and no one could take that away from him. Not even Paul Slater.


	13. Chapter 13

**A.N - I'm sorry about the delay in posting. But you guys all know I went to Spain. It was fun. But that does contribute to my lateness.**

**So yeah, this chapter is gay as - I know it. It's just kind of an interlude that doesn't make much sense. (I don't understand it anyway). But you do need it for the coming chapters.**

**Finally, I'd just like to say thank you to everyone who's reviewed so far in this story and I'm if i haven't replied back. Also, Happy Easter guys!!**

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**Chapter 13**

"Hey Suze!" A voice called out to her. "Mind if we have a chat?"

Suze rolled her eyes when she identified the voice as Paul's. It had been a week since Jesse had told her about Georgie, and since then, Paul hadn't spoken to her once.

"What do you want?" Why he had decided to again now was beyond her.

"Just thought that we could have another shifter lesson, Simon." Paul smirked as leaned against the wall. "The last one was going so well until Ghost Boy interrupted."

Suze smiled condescendingly. "Gee, Paul, I'd love to, but my opinion of you has changed. I've seen you in a whole new light." She brought up her hand and wiggled her fingers in a goodbye wave. "Toodles!"

And then she was gone.

Paul clenched his fists in anger and darted looks around the courtyard. His eyes narrowed and his teeth gritted when he found de Silva. _With Suze._

He watched as they talked animatedly before Suze pecked him on the cheek and left with that Albino chick.

Paul didn't even give Jesse a chance to grin goofily at his friends before marching over to him and pushing him out of hearing distance.

"Oi, Hector. We need to talk."

Jesse's lips spread into a patronising smile.

"What's the matter Slater? Getting all pissy because Susannah chose me over you?"

Jesse knew it probably wouldn't do to antagonise the other teenager. But he just couldn't resist rubbing this in Paul's face.

"Funny." Paul said, clearly unhappy. "Listen, de Silva, I got a deal for you."

Jesse raised a dark eyebrow. "And why would I accept?"

"Because," Paul stated. "If you do, I'll you and your precious Susannah alone."

Instantly, Jesse's face turned stoic.

"What's the catch?"

"No catch." There was a glint in Paul's eye. Of what, Jesse wasn't sure. "You just have to let me teach you everything about Shifters."

"Why would I want to?"

Paul was getting frustrated by now.

"Look, Hector, you want me to back away from Suze or not?"

Jesse regarded Paul sceptically. _There had to be some reason for all of this._

"Fine," he finally agreed. "I'll come around your house on Thursday. Happy?"

Paul smothered his smirk with a forced smile.

"Ecstatic." He ground out.

Jesse threw him another strange look then left, leaving Paul on his own.

It was then that a glowing person made himself known.

"I don't get this."

Paul looked at the ghost. "I was wondering when you'd return, Craig."

The ghost acted like no one had spoken.

"You don't like this guy."

"So?" Paul asked.

"So why invite him to your house to tell him how to be a better mediator?"

"Because when he learns the extent of a shifters power," Paul emphasised the word shifters to the ghost who just replied with a shrug. "He'll become intrigued."

"Still not seeing the point to this."

"And then he'll become obsessed with it all."

Craig Jankow looked at Paul like he was crazy.

Paul shook his head.

"You'll see what I mean, I've got a few aces up my sleeve."

Craig's face turned angry again as he was reminded of his present situation. "Not like I'm going anywhere." He mumbled.

"Well it will give you something to look forward to then."

Paul left without giving the ghost a second glance. He knew what he was doing. He'd show Jesse how to travel through time and present him with people he just had to meet.

Then … Jesse would try it. Paul himself had refrained from trying because he'd seen what it could do to a person. Living proof down the corridor from him.

Right now, however, Paul had something to see to down at the History museum. Smirking to himself, Paul left the school early for the day, thinking of the trouble he could cause for the school's new 'It' couple. Then he could swoop in and take Suze for himself.

With Jesse out of the picture, this time he would succeed.


	14. Chapter 14

**A.N - Okay, I've finally figured out where I'm going in this story. The two chapters after this are kinda tie-over interlude type things. Then on with the plot. I figured Jesse and Suze needed a bit of a break.**

**Check out my new story Temptation. I'm quite proud of it. And I'm about to post up chapter 2 to get you guys a better feel of the plot. Considering chapter 1 was introductions.**

**Again, Happy Easter to everyone. Hope it rocks.

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Chapter 14

Thursday came much to fast for Jesse's liking. Just the thought of giving up a day of being with Susannah to spend it with someone like Paul Slater instead … Let's just say it didn't exactly fill him with warm fuzzies.

Nevertheless, he pulled up to Paul's house on Thursday ready for 'shifter' lessons.

_I'm doing this for Susannah, _He reminded himself as he rang the doorbell. _I'm doing this for Susannah. I'm doing this for -_

The door was flung open.

"De Silva," Paul greeted dryly. "Nice of you to drop by."

"If you think that I'm doing this to learn how to shift, you will be severely disappointed." Jesse announced. "I'm here because of Susannah."

Paul only rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, whatever." He left the door open for Jesse to follow in behind him.

"Drink?" Paul offered.

"Slater, I just want to get in and get out. Teach me what you want but do not keep me here longer then needed."

Paul's lips stretched into that smirk which was almost always present upon his face.

"Of course."

Then he left towards the bedroom where Suze had been just over a week before.

"Have a seat." Paul gestured to the bed while he went to collect the item he'd borrowed from the History Museum.

"Look at this." He said, handing the small portrait to Jesse.

"Susannah!" He gasped when he recognised her.

Well, It looked like Susannah. It was dated 1814 which meant that it couldn't possibly be his girlfriend. But the girl in the picture had the same flowing chestnut hair and sparkling emerald eyes.

"Not Susannah." Paul told him. "That is Isabella Martinez."

Jesse's head jerked up on hearing that. Martinez? That was Georgie's last name.

"Knew you'd catch that."

"What are you doing Paul? Why are you showing me this?" Jesse held up the portrait. "Telling me these things?"

Paul shrugged. "Just wanted to see if I could jog your memory, is all."

Jesse glared at the other boy. "Start talking, Slater. Tell me what you mean."

Paul's demeanour instantly iced. "You really want to know the truth, De Silva?"

Jesse looked at him pointedly. "If I didn't, why would I ask?"

"Fine!" Paul was practically growling. "This isn't your first life. This is none of our first lives."

Jesse looked at Paul and burst into laughter.

"Yeah…" He gasped out between laughs. "Right."

"I'm telling the truth." Paul reformed back to his cool ways. "The woman in that picture is Isabella, Georgiana's sister. Now known as Susannah."

"If you are telling the truth, why didn't Georgie tell me any of this?"

Paul laughed now.

"Like she would know," He guffawed before shooting a glare towards the other boy. "She died in 1814. You didn't come onto the scene until afterwards. She didn't know you in that lifetime."

Slowly, the information processed in Jesse's mind. He had lived before? The idea was unbelievable. Wait a minute …

"How do you know all of this, Paul?"

Paul smirked. The question he'd been waiting for.

"I went back in time to see for myself."

Jesse just stared incredulously at him.

"I don't," He informed Paul, "fully accept the re-incarnation thing, let alone the idea that time travel is possible."

Paul shrugged again. "It's true."

Jesse shook his head and stood up, collecting his school bag and car keys.

"You need help." He told Paul as he slammed out of the bedroom.

_That was a total waste of time. Paul doesn't have a clue what he's on about._

Yet, somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew Paul was telling the truth. If he and Susannah had lived before, and knew each other, then it explained why he felt so connected to her.

Jesse rested his head against the cool interior of the car window, taking deep breaths as he did so. He was getting a headache.

Checking his watch, he decided it was still early enough to go and see Susannah. He started the car and drove off towards Pine Crest Avenue, in search of his Querida.


	15. Chapter 15

**A.N - Yay. Finally the document manager is working again. I've been waiting forever to post this chapter. Yes It's short I'm sorry. Next chapter is another little filler and we jump forward a load in time. Then Chapter 17 is plot again.**

**Lady Of The Night should be updated pretty soon. Me and Moondancing Millie have been busy and all. What with going back to school again today. Not nice.**

**And Please check out my fic Temptation. It doesn't seem to be doing so well. Shameless Advertising. :D

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Chapter 15

"Susannah!" She heard her name being called by the voice of her boyfriend.

"Susannah!"

She walked over to her window seat and opened the window which gave you a beautiful view of the Pacific.

"I'm here," she called down before making to climb down.

"Why couldn't you have just knocked the door like normal people do?" She teased once she'd reached the safety of Jesse's arms.

"Where's the fun in that?" He asked with a heart-flipping smile before claiming her lips in a kiss.

Regretfully, she pulled away.

"How did that thing with Paul go, anyway?"

Her boyfriend groaned into her hair.

"Really?" She played. "That good?"

"Don't even joke." Jesse replied. "He has this insane idea we knew each other in a past life."

"Wow."

"I know." Jesse took Suze's hand and walked towards his car. "I left after he told me. It's kind of a weird concept, don't you think?"

"Weird." Suze agreed from her seat next to him inside the car. "But not completely implausible."

Jesse froze in his action of turning the key in the ignition.

"You believe him?" He asked incredulously.

"It's not like it's really out there," She said softly. "I mean, as far as ideas go, it does make sense."

At Jesse's look, she continued.

"I mean," she tried to explain again. "Considering what we are and what you've seen - you did say that there were doors lining the walls in Purgatory, right?" At his nod she continued. "Is it really so hard to believe? You don't know what's on the other side of those doors."

Jesse took Susannah into his arms and placed an affectionate kiss on the top of her forehead.

"I suppose not," He agreed. "I did feel drawn to you, when I first saw you."

His admission was whispered into her ear.

"Well," She teased him again, deciding to forego the serious conversation. "I can't say the same about you. But there was something to be said about Paul Slater …"

Jesse's arms around her waist tightened.

"I'm only messing Jesse." She looked him straight in the eye, willing him to believe her next statement. "I love you."

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Suze wondered if she had made a mistake in telling him. They had only known each other for two weeks after all.

But the words just felt so right. And every inch of her knew they were true.

"Jesse?" Suze ventured after a long silence. "Are you alright?"

Then his dark eyes darkened further and he kissed her. Fiercely and possessively.

They broke apart only when breath was needed.

"I love you too, Susannah."

That was all the incentive she needed to wrap her arms around his neck and begin the kissing session all over again.

When they finally broke apart again, Jesse was the first to speak.

"Okay, that made up for the whole spending time with Paul and not you thing."

Suze merely smiled.

"Good."

Jesse laughed and placed another kiss on her lips before taking her in his arms and just holding her. Enjoying their closeness.

"I do love you Susannah," he said. "Since I first laid eyes on you. Two hundred years ago, if Paul's anything to go by."

"I know." She replied. "And I really do love you too, Jesse."

There was never a more perfect silence then the one that resided in that car. Occasionally, one of the pair muttered an 'I love you' to which the replied that they knew. Each time the sentiment was uttered, a soft kiss would follow.

Too soon for both of the pair, Susannah left the car, ready to make the climb back up to her bedroom.

"I'll see you tomorrow." She whispered, all to aware of the time and who may be asleep.

Jesse smiled and waved, still giddy from her admission.

He waited long enough to ensure she was inside safely before driving off. Suddenly, having school tomorrow wasn't so bad.


	16. Chapter 16

**A.N - Big jump of time. But then I swear we're getting on with the plot.**

**This has got to be my longest chapter. I'm proud. So enjoy guys.

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Chapter 16

Jesse was right. School the next day wasn't as big of a chore as it normally was to him. Not so much after he had met Susannah but it was still an effort to get up early every day. But since their declaration of love the days got better and better. So he was right. The next day was good, the day after that was better. The day after that was better still.

Three months passed and now it was December and coming up to Christmas. They passed happily for Jesse as well as his 'official' girlfriend, as she had now been deemed by the rest of the school, and painfully for Paul.

Paul had been true to his promise over the last two months. He barely said two words to Suze except when he had to. It was killing him. Every time he saw her around school he ached to go up to her and teach her a thing or two about shifting. How to deal with the ever insistent Craig Jankow who was still plaguing his brother's every move. But he resisted the urge to talk to her. It would make his plan that much sweeter when he actually put it into motion.

------

Jesse wasn't at all interested in Shifter Lessons. The time he spent at Paul's house was more often then not spent thinking about Susannah. Recently his thoughts had involved Christmas present ideas considering the actual event was only two weeks away. The school was having their annual dance to celebrate the next week and was breaking up for the holidays a week after that.

"_At least I won't have to see Paul for a whole two weeks." _Jesse thought with a grin. _"Two weeks to spend with my querida."_

Every time Jesse thought about his girlfriend in Paul's presence resulted in a huge smile. Susannah was Jesse's. Not Paul's. And he loved rubbing it in the other boy's face.

"Hector!" Paul shouted.

"Sí?" Jesse responded distractedly.

"The point," Paul seethed, "of all of this is for you to actually listen. You may actually need it someday."

Jesse raised an eyebrow.

"Since when am I going to have to travel through time?" He asked sceptically. "It's not exactly something you do on an everyday basis."

"De Silva, either you listen, or I go back to bugging Suze."

That helped Paul get his point across.

Jesse instantly started paying attention again. After all, he'd like to keep Paul away from Susannah. Not that he didn't trust Susannah. He did. Whole heartedly. It was Paul he didn't trust.

"Fine," Jesse sighed. "I'm listening."

"Good."

Paul continued up his lecture on 'How to Travel Through Time'. Jesse only half tuned him out this time. He heard words like 'artefact' and 'from the time' but it really made no sense to him. As he'd mentioned to Paul. Time travel was not something he had any intention of trying out.

Paul, however, knew that their talk months ago about Georgiana and Isabella Martinez had had an effect on him. Jesse, despite all of his protests, had started to believe even the tiniest bit in all of this 'nonsense'. The facts of it all were entirely to coincidental to actually be that. Coincidences. Now all Paul had to do was get him to try it. Even if it meant forcing him.

"So," Paul chirped. "Going to give it a go?"

"What?" Jesse said. "Time travelling?"

Paul greeted his question with a pointed stare.

"Nah." Jesse took his stare as a yes. "Never going to either. I still remember how it felt to shift. I think Time Travelling might make me feel slightly worse."

"Oh, yeah. I suppose so." Paul reluctantly agreed. "Forgot about that."

"Yeah," Jesse said. "Well, It's not like you actually tried it. So you would forget about it, wouldn't you?"

When Paul said nothing in response, Jesse threw out an 'I'm going' before turning and leaving the room without another word.

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"So many choices." Suze muttered to herself, darting glances around the store she was currently in.

And there was. So many choices. Who knew shopping for a dress to wear to one dance would be such a hard decision.

"I wonder which one Jesse would prefer?"

She'd been doing that a lot recently. Dressing how she though Jesse would like to see her. Well, he _was _her boyfriend now. She had an excuse for wanting to impress him. He was her _boyfriend._

Whenever she said those words she wanted to squeal. Girly and stupid, she knew, but when you're in love, things like that don't bother you.

Bringing her attention back to the many racks in front of her, Suze sighed again. It's not like she didn't have enough money. Her mom had made sure of that. Her mom had been so excited that her daughter had actually been asked to go, by a boy, that she had wanted it to be perfect. She had thrust money into Suze's hand and whispered something about not bring home change.

Who was Suze to argue?

Suze picked up a simple, sleeveless blue gown and held it up against her before putting it down again.

"No," She whispered. "Not that one."

People probably thought she was crazy, talking to herself. But she'd been caught talking to ghosts often enough - Ghost's that obviously weren't visible to the majority of Carmel residents - that It didn't bother her anymore.

Suze really wanted Jesse here to help her choose. But at the same time she wanted to surprise him on the night as well. It was a good thing he was at one of his Shifter lessons. There was no chance of running into him. As much as she wanted to impress him, she wanted to surprise him more.

There were many dresses to choose from. No sixteen-year-old should have to make this type of decision.

Suze shut her eyes and sighed, about ready to give up.

Then she opened her eyes, and something fluttered at the corner of her eye. Suze turned around quickly, eyes widening when she saw the dress.

"This is the one." She whispered to herself, walking over to it and clutching it to her, itching to try it on. "Definitely this."

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After taking off from Paul's house, Jesse drove around for a while before deciding to go to the mall. He could always try and find Susannah's Christmas present.

It was rather early he supposed - it was only the 12th - but he wanted his present to her to be perfect. Especially considering it was their first holiday together. Both of them had had to spend Thanksgiving with their respective families.

An item in a jewellery shop had captured his attention when he caught sight of his querida leaving a nearby shop, casually holding a dress bag. He smiled knowing she was obviously excited about the dress - you could see it in her eyes - but also knowing she didn't want to give that away.

"Susannah!" He called out to her after making sure to move away from the shop he'd been in front of. It would do no good for her to have any idea what he was going to get her. He wanted it to be a surprise, as well as perfect.

The look on her face when she heard her name was priceless. She looked like a dear caught in the headlights and she clutched her dress bag that much tighter.

"Jesse," was all she said. "Shouldn't you be with Paul?"

"Probably." Jesse shrugged. "I left."

He stepped closer to her and kissed her softly, lingering, on the lips.

"Hey," he whispered deeply.

"Hi," she whispered back, looking up at him coquettishly from beneath her eyelashes.

"Now," Jesse said wrapping his arms around Susannah protectively as he raised his voice to a more public level. "How about you show me what you bought?"

Susannah punched his arm in mock anger.

"No way!" She exclaimed. "You're just going to have to wait until next Friday."

"But that's over a week away!" Jesse pouted. "Can't I even know the colour?"

"Nope."

"Querida, por favor?" She loved it when he spoke Spanish. He also used his sexiest voice. The one that tended to get him his own way.

"Not going to work this time," she scolded before adding on as an afterthought, "_Señor_."

Jesse was silent then, a grin itching to be released at the corner of his mouth. Instead he just looked at her. Her emerald eyes were sparkling and her smile was blinding. She was so beautiful.

"I love you."

All the playfulness in his voice had gone. Instead it took on a pleading tone, almost as if he was begging her to see the seriousness of his words. How much he meant them.

"I know," She replied with a smile that told him that she really did. "I love you too."

Jesse smiled and pecked her nose affectionately.

"I know. Now lets get out of here. What do you think bout going to the beach?"

"I'd love to." Suze replied happily.

For once, her life was going perfectly.


	17. Chapter 17

**A.N - My updates have caught up with my writing now. So I might not update this for a while. I'll try my best however to update quickly.**

**Hope you like this.

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Chapter 17

Jesse paced nervously at the bottom of the stairs in the Ackerman household, waiting for Susannah to descend. It was the day of the Winter Formal. He had skipped yesterday's "Shifter" lesson purely because he didn't want Paul Slater to ruin his high.

Tonight had been the first night Jesse had actually met Susannah's mom and step-dad. After awkward introductions, Jesse had been let inside in order to wait for his girlfriend.

He had never actually gotten out of Susannah what kind of dress she had bought. Susannah had successfully evaded all of his questions last week at the beach leaving Jesse no more aware than he had been before going to Paul's house that day. Knowing Susannah though, she was sure to look amazing.

He stood at the bottom of the stairs fidgeting nervously. Susannah's step-dad kept looking over at him with a scary expression adorning his face. One that screamed 'You should be lucky that I'm even allowing you to look at my step-daughter'. Jesse gulped. Despite how rude it sounded, he just wanted to grab Susannah and leave.

His thoughts were interrupted by a happy gasp from Susannah's mother.

"Oh Susie!" She cried.

Jesse looked up and saw his girlfriend for the first time that night. His mouth dropped open.

Now he knew why she wanted to keep the dress a secret from him.

She was wearing a simple white gown which clung to her perfectly.

"Susannah," Jesse breathed out taking her into his arms. "You look beautiful."

"Thank you." She smiled, pleased at the fact that she had managed to surprise him. It had become increasingly harder to resist his charming pleas to know what she had bought. But it was worth it, just to see the look on his face as she had walked down the stairs.

Jesse smiled back and leaned in to kiss her on the cheek, remembering at the last moment the audience they had.

He took her hand in his own before turning to face her step-father who had been discreetly clearing his throat.

"Have her back by 11 sharp," Was what he said to Jesse. "Alright?"

"Yes sir," he agreed quickly, nodding and starting to walk out of the house.

"Mom!" Susannah's cry stopped him.

Mrs Ackerman seemed to know what Susannah wanted and gave her an understanding look before walking over to her husband.

"Andy, honey," she began. "Let's let her stay out just a little bit later tonight. It is Susie's first big dance, after all."

Mr Ackerman looked hesitant.

"Andy, please?"

At Susannah's plea, Mr Ackerman looked over at Jesse.

"Any time is fine by me, sir." He admitted truthfully, not caring about how long they had before Susannah had to be home as long as they could leave. Get away from the interrogating stares his girlfriend's family was sending his way.

"Alright," Andy caved. "12 then. But no later."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Susannah threw her arms around her step-dad briefly and then stepped away again.

Jesse offered Susannah his arm and together they walked towards Jesse's car. He held the door open for her and she smiled gratefully.

"Díos, that was hard," he muttered as he came around to his side of the car and fastened his seatbelt.

"Well," Susannah told him, "At least you don't have to go through it again."

"True." Jesse agreed as he looked over at her. "You really do look amazing, tonight."

"Thank you." Susannah smiled again and kissed him softly.

Jesse smiled as they pulled apart. He kissed her nose quickly before starting the car and beginning the journey towards the Junipero Mission Academy, where they were throwing the dance.

----

"Wow!" Suze exclaimed as they walked into the hall where the dance was being held. "This looks beautiful!"

The hall was decorated with blue and white icicle lights draped across high surfaces. Confetti laced the floor of the hall and paper snowflakes hung overhead.

"Yeah," Jesse agreed, his gaze focused on the girl next to him. "Really beautiful."

Suze smiled and blushed prettily, fully understanding the second meaning behind his words.

"Come on," it felt like the smile was never going to leave her face. "I think I can see Cee Cee and Adam!"

Jesse allowed himself to be pulled towards his girlfriend's friends as he scanned the crowd for the one person that could ruin this whole night for him.

Paul was standing by the punch bowl, rolling his eyes at the boring things his date was prattling on about.

"So then Debbie told me that Tiffany was told by Bridget who heard that -"

Kelly was interrupted by Paul.

"Yeah, sounds fascinating. Why don't we go and dance?"

Anything to stop her talking.

Not put out at being interrupted in the least, Kelly smiled.

"Sure," she said. "Just let me freshen up first, kay?"

Then she left, leaving Paul on his own.

"Well, well, well," Jesse pushed into Paul's blissful silence. "Guess I lucked out, didn't I?"

"Shut it de Silva," Paul sneered.

Jesse laughed and threw his hand up in the air in a defensive gesture.

"Just saying," He said. "I'm lucky to have Susannah, don't you think?"

"Yeah," Paul completely avoided Jesse's question. "Where is good old Suze, anyway?"

"Over with Cee Cee and Adam," Jesse tipped his head in a vague direction of where the trio was sitting. "I came to get drinks."

"Well then," Paul stepped aside with a flourish. "Don't let me keep you."

Jesse shook his head smiling as Paul left. He really was grateful to have Susannah. He couldn't help it if he looked to rub it in Paul's face every noe and then.

Pouring two cups full with the red liquid, Jesse made his way back to the table to find it with one person less than when he'd left.

"Hey, where's Susannah?" He asked.

Adam shrugged while Cee Cee rolled her eyes.

"Paul dragged her away," she informed her best friend's boyfriend who was getting increasingly angry the more Cee Cee told him. "Said he had something really important to tell her."

"Did you see where they went?" Jesse practically demanded.

"Down there somewhere." Cee Cee pointed with her finger towards the corridor filled with lockers.

"Thanks."

Jesse put down the cups, which were quickly swiped up by Adam who then offered them to his date with a 'M'lady', and made his way down the direction Cee Cee had shown him.

He walked the length of the hall, growing suspicious when he heard no voices.

His heart stopped when he saw a piece of paper hanging limply from Susannah's locker. Susannah's _open _locker.

Jesse tugged at the paper, shutting the door as he did so. Only Susannah knew her combination.

His heart jumped into his throat as he saw Paul's elegant script on the now crumpled paper.

'_See you in 1814, de Silva'_.


	18. Chapter 18

**A.N - Hey guys. Hope you like this chapter as much as I liked writing it. Though I did write it very late last night. So thats my excuse if it is bad.

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Chapter 18

Brows furrowed in anger, Jesse crumpled the piece of paper deep into his trouser pocket. It would do no good having anyone else find it. He wouldn't have been able to make up a semi-plausible excuse to what it could possibly mean, he was too tired.

How on earth could Paul be so cruel as to do this to him?

Actually, Jesse had an idea why.

He was jealous - plain and simple. He wanted Susannah and this was his way of getting her. Only it wasn't going to work.

With a new-found determination he strolled through the corridors. His mind was made up. He just had a few loose ends to tie up here then he was off to 1814.

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"Paul Slater!" Suze screamed at her captor. "Where the hell are we?"

Paul ran a hand through his perfect hair.

"Carmel," he answered simply, turning his back on her so that she couldn't see the items he had brought with them.

"This doesn't look like Carmel." Suze was livid. And seriously considering running and taking her chances where ever they were.

"Well, it is." Came Paul's reply. "Carmel, California. 1814."

"What?!" She screamed.

"Shut up Suze." Paul snapped. "We don't want to draw attention to ourselves."

"Speak for yourself."

And then she screamed. Again.

"Suze," Paul's voice was cold as he finally turned around - still blocking the items from her view - and gripped her upper arms painfully. "Shut up. If we're seen, we could mess up history."

Suze quietened down at that.

"So why'd you bring me here?" She asked quietly. "If you knew that risk."

His eyes matched his cold voice.

"If I can't have you, neither can Jesse."

"Jesse?" She asked. "You took us back in time because you're jealous of -"

Her voice trailed off as he stepped aside and showed her what he'd been hiding. Various lengths of rope and pieces of cloth.

"Oh, no!" Suze started to back out of the building they were in. "You wouldn't dare Paul!"

Paul smirked evilly.

"Wouldn't I?"

He caught her as she tried to run away and subdued her as he tied the first length of rope around her legs. To keep her from running away.

He didn't relent his actions. No matter how hard she punched or scrammed him. Turned out the spawn of the devil was immune to such girly ways of fighting.

"Help!" She screamed desperately hoping someone would hear her. She'd rather mess up the course of history then be at the mercy of Paul Slater. "Somebody help!"

Paul's eyes glinted with anger as he slapped a hand over her mouth.

"I'm sorry Suze, I really am." He ran a finger down her cheek. "But, like I said, we really cannot be found here."

As she opened her mouth to scream again, Paul tied a length of cloth around her mouth - gagging her.

"I am sorry." Paul repeated kissing her cheek before blinding her as well.

Everything was dark. Her hands and feet were bound. All that she could get out of her mouth was muffled noises that were of no use to help save her.

Then she heard the chilling sound of Paul's laughter and the slam of a door before the room was encompassed in silence.

She was alone.

Asshole.

---

Jesse walked back towards the dance and the sound of pounding music.

He only had one thought on his mind and that was get to Susannah. Which included trying to remember how to travel through time. He should have listened to Paul at all of those shifter lessons.

"You never know when you might need it." Paul had told him one week.

The boy had been planning this all along.

Just as he had opened the door and re-entered the dance, Cee Cee came running over to him hand attached to Adam's.

"Hey!" She said, out of breath. "Did you find Suze? She's been gone a while."

One of his 'loose ends' to take care of. Fortunately, he had already thought up an excuse.

"Yeah, I did." Jesse explained. "She's not feeling too good. She's asked me to take her home."

"Oh." Was all Cee Cee said.

Adam, however, laughed before he added dramatically.

"Take us to the invalid!" He cried. "It's got to be something apocalyptic for her to miss her first soirée!"

"Shut up!" Cee Cee hissed, slapping his chest lightly.

Jesse had prepared for this, also.

"No," he said calmly. "No. It's okay. She's already in the car. I was just sent back to collect her stuff."

Cee Cee shrugged, obviously accepting his story, while Jesse collected Suze's small sequined bag.

"Whatever." She stated. "By Jesse!"

Waving with her free hand, she used the other to drag Adam back onto the dance floor.

Jesse shook his head, slightly amused, and left the dance.

There was no time for him to do anything else - make up stories to her step-brother's for instance. Jesse wanted to get to Susannah now. He'd waited long enough. And who knew what Paul had done by now.

The one thing he actually remembered learning from Paul was that, to time-travel, you needed to be in a place which had existed in the time you planned on travelling to.

So, now he just had to work out what was in Carmel now that would have been in 1814 too.

Well, there was the mission, obviously. But that was infested with high school kids. So that was out of the question.

He drove his car out of the parking lot and found his gaze directing itself towards the sea.

He'd had some good times there with Susannah. And he was going to have many more, as soon as he figured out where he could time-travel from.

Then he realised.

The Beach.

Excitedly, Jesse pulled his car into the beach's parking lot and climbed out.

What else was there to do?

"An artefact belonging to the time period you wish to be sent to." Paul's voice rang in his head.

Jesse's heart froze as his head drooped.

He didn't have that.

His hands burrowed into his pockets dejectedly. A piece of paper crinkled as his fingers brushed against it.

Paul's note. Jesse smirked. Paul's note written in the handwriting belonging to Paul. The same Paul who was in 1814. With Susannah.

Clutching the paper tightly, Jesse closed his eyes, desperately hoping this would work, as he imagined Carmel as he thought it would have been like in 1814.

Then he opened his eyes slowly - one lid at a time.

And he was still on a beach watching the sunset.

Only, his car had gone as well as the various electrical street-lights that were normally littered all over Carmel. The whole place felt considerably less modern.

Which meant one thing.

He'd done it.

Jesse de Silva was in 1814, ready to find his querida. And murder Paul Slater for taking her away.


	19. Chapter 19

**A.N - I'm sorry if there's grammer problems and stuff in this chapter. Something really, _really _traumatising just happened to me. I like this chapter though. And I hope you do too.**

**Mr Slaski (As I think you'd be able to guess when you read the chapter but meh) is Paul by the way.

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Chapter 19

She was so fed up of only being able to see darkness. And her voice was hoarse from not having relented her muffled screams. Suze was desperately hoping for someone to come and rescue her.

Nevertheless, the second that she heard footsteps, she instantly froze, not wanting to alert Paul to how she'd been spending her time.

Suze had never felt so much relief as she did when she heard an unfamiliar male voice.

"Hello?" the unknown man called. "Is anyone in here? I heard voices."

Suze mumbled something out through her makeshift gag, alerting the man to her presence and where she was.

She heard a gasp and then the hurried sound of footsteps as they pounded on the floor to reach her.

"Miss?" The voice said. "Miss Isabella? Who did this to you? Are you alright?"

He ripped the blindfold off of her so quickly that she had to wince at the sudden burst of sunlight that almost blinded her. Everything this boy had said before was forgotten as Suze focused on regaining her eyesight.

"I'm fine," She replied hoarsely once he untied the cloth that had, until then, remained tightly wrapped around her mouth.

With the sunlight level being one she could cope with, Suze finally got a good look at her rescuer.

He couldn't have been more than fourteen, this boy, yet he was obviously older for his age. He looked like a farm hand, considering the smear of mud he had across his cheek. In a strange way, this boy kind of reminded Suze of David, her youngest step-brother back home. Only, David was younger.

"I'm fine," she repeated again, more to clarify the fact to herself as opposed to the other person in the room.

"Um, where are we?" She asked as she realised she didn't recognise her surroundings. They obviously hadn't survived the 200 years or so until her time.

The boy looked a bit shocked, like he didn't believe her.

"Are you sure you didn't hit your head, Miss Isabella?"

Isabella? That was the second time he had called her that.

"My name is -"

She cut herself off as she remembered Jesse telling her about a girl from this time period who was called Isabella. Supposedly, they looked alike but Suze had never seen a picture to make sure. This boy was probably only helping her because he thought she was this Isabella person.

"Yeah," She said instead. "That's my name. Isabella."

The boy looked at her almost as if he was scared.

"Actually," Suze said. "I'm not sure if I hit my head or not. Could you, um, take me somewhere which might help me … remember a few things?"

The farm boy blinked, obviously thinking, before nodding frantically.

"Yeah!" He replies excitedly. "I know just the place! Let's go to the church!"

Suze smiled at the boys enthusiasm and followed out of the depressing room she'd been stuck in - which she now knew was an abandoned farm house.

You could so trust Paul to keep her there of all places.

'_Ha!' _She thought. _'Take that Paul.'_

By tying her up and leaving her there for so long, Paul had ruined her Winter Formal dress. And he was so going to pay for that. The dress was expensive!

-----

"Well, well, well," Paul drawled once he saw Jesse walking up the path to the Mission. "You took your time showing up, Romeo."

"Where's Susannah?" Jesse growled out his question, fearful for Susannah's protection now that he knew that she wasn't with Paul. He may have kidnapped her, but he would've kept her safe.

"She's in a safe place," Paul shrugged.

Jesse rushed Paul and pushed him up against the nearest pillar pinning him up against it with his hands on Paul's shoulders.

"Where. Is. She?"

Each word was punctuated with a shake of Paul's shoulders.

Paul, however, just laughed.

"Do you really think that that will help you find her?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Paul. Tell me where she is. Now." Jesse's eyes glinted with murderous anger.

"Make me." Came Paul's short reply.

And Jesse lost it. He cocked back his fist and smashed it into Paul's nose, smiling when he heard a satisfying crack.

Paul brought his hand up to his broken nose to stem the steady flow of blood.

"You really think that I'm going to tell you now?" Paul asked incredulously.

"Oh, you will."

Jesse's voice was cold. A voice which no one could refuse.

Except if you were called Paul Slater.

"I'm thinking," he said. "Not."

Jesse's brown eyes darkened and narrowed as he grabbed Paul's shirt, flinging the boy in front of him.

"Paul," Jesse spoke threateningly. "If you don't show me where Susannah is, right now, I will personally see to it that when we get back to present day Carmel, you're life will be made a living hell. Get me?"

Nodding shakily, Paul finally realised that Jesse was deadly serious about his relationship with Suze. Emphasis on the word deadly.

"Yeah, alright. You win."

Despite his recent epiphany, Paul wasn't going to make it easy for Jesse. Sure, he wasn't going to go after Suze anymore, but antagonising the pair was just way to fun to give up doing.

"Geez, Hector." Paul had shouted after the boy had shook him again apparently thinking Paul was moving too slowly for his liking. "Lay up a bit. You just broke my nose, remember?"

"Just show me where she is, Slater."

Paul gritted his teeth to keep from saying anything else and took off in the direction he'd left Suze trusting the fact that Jesse would be following closely behind him.

As they were walking out of the Mission gates, they saw a girl dressed in a white dress with a dirty teenager walking slightly ahead of her.

"Susannah." Jesse whispered and made to go after her.

"Woah there, de Silva." Paul caught him before he could take off. "That's not Susannah. Remember Isabella?"

Jesse struggled to get out of aul's grip.

"Of course it's Susannah!" He protested. "That's the dress she wore to the dance."

Paul slowly let go of Jesse as he realised the love-struck boy was right. And Jesse wasted no time in running towards her as fast as he could.

"Susannah!" He called. "Susannah!"

She turned as she heard her name being called, a look of relief settling upon her face when she saw who it was calling her by her real name. A smirk perched on her lips when she saw the state of her kidnapper shortly behind her boyfriend.

"Jesse!" She called back happy to see him again. She hiked up her skirt and ran towards him.

His arms wrapped around her in relief.

"Susannah." He mumbled whilst kissing her hair. "I'm so glad you're alright querida."

She looked up at him and he brought his lips down to hers in a kiss.

Their own little word was shattered when she heard her rescuer call out her 'name' confusedly.

"Isabella?" He said. "What are you doing kissing that man?"

The two broke apart and looked at him.

"You're engaged." A funny look crossed his face. "To the man standing behind you. Mr Slaski."


	20. Chapter 20

**A.N - Sorry for the delay. I like this chapter. Had fun writing Paul's lines at least. There shouldn't be much of this story left. A few chapters and an Epilogue so I'd like to thank everyone who's reviewed throught the course of the story - even back when my writing was terrible at the beginning.**

**You guys rock!**

**Well, here you go. I'm not sure bout the ending though.**

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Chapter 20

The stupidity of their actions hit them both at the exact same time.

Almost as if it had been planned, the duo wrapped in each other's arms turned from the young farm boy and looked at Paul behind them instead. His hand was still stemming the flow of blood from his nose but he managed to keep that wicked smirk on his face.

"If you had been paying attention," He told Jesse who was gripping Susannah tightly in fear. "Then you would know that, when you travel into the past, you should try to be seen by as little amount of people as possible. Especially if one of them is considered engaged."

Suze felt like hitting something. Preferably 'Mr Slaski's' face. He knew this was going to happen. He knew Isabella was engaged.

"Paul Slater!" She practically hissed at the boy. "You get us out of this right now or I swear, I'll -"

"Nuh-uh," Paul admonished breaking apart the couple to place his own arm around Susannah instead. "You're a lady, Isabella."

He leaned in close to her ear and spoke threateningly.

"And it's Slaski. You'd do well to remember it."

Jesse stood staring in disbelief and anger at Paul, his hatred for the boy consuming the whole of him instantly.

There was no way Jesse was just going to stand back and let Slater put his hands all over his girlfriend.

"Get your hands off of her, _Slater_," Jesse emphasised the last word, telling Paul that he wasn't going to stand for any of his games.

Paul's response was to tighten his grip around Suze - who was struggling wildly - and look tiredly over at the other boy.

"Go home, de Silva," he said. "There's nothing for you here."

"Other then my girlfriend, you mean?" Jesse was livid.

Paul threw him a glare.

"I don't want to have to challenge you to a duel."

Paul was just loving this.

Suze kicked Paul in the shin when he was distracted with Jesse, startling the boy so much that he released his grip on her. She wasted no time in running towards Jesse, who was smirking at Paul.

"Stay away from me." She whispered so as not to let the farm boy hear. She was the only one who remembered his presence, it appeared. "Don't touch me ever again."

"Awwww, come on Izzy," Paul pouted also remembering his audience. The blood that had once been gushing out of his nose had calmed down by now. "Is that any way to talk to your fiancé?"

"She would never marry you." Jesse gloated with a smile on his face as he possessively kissed Susannah's temple.

"Miss Isabella?" The boy called out to her.

The trio turned to look over at him, realising for the first time that their audience had grown.

"You get your hands off my daughter!" Cried an angry voice who was glaring daggers at Jesse. "And you, Isabella! You're dear sister has only just passed away and already you're showing such disrespect for her memory!"

"Sister?" Suze whispered to Jesse, clearly confused with the recent events.

"Georgie," Jesse whispered back remembering what Paul had told him months ago. Isabella and Georgie had been sisters.

"Why, Mr Slaski!" Came a voice from a woman who was standing very close to Isabella's father. "Your nose!"

"I'll live," Paul stated dryly. "I'll be fine when my beloved is back into my arms."

Jesse's arms tightened around Susannah as he realised Paul's game. That's all it was to Paul - a game. He didn't care about anyone else but himself. He just wanted the chance to have Susannah in his arms. And Jesse was damned if he was going to let him.

"Isabella," The woman's voice came again, obviously that of Isabella's mother. "Step away from that … man."

The way she said the word man indicated that she thought Jesse was anything but.

"No, um, mom." Suze crinkled her brow. It felt weird saying that. "I love Jesse."

And to prove her point she dug deeper into his embrace.

"Disgrace!" Shouted Isabella's dad.

Jesse grasped Susannah to him closely and whispered to her.

"Querida, listen," he murmured. "We're going to have to run. Not far. Just away, so that we can travel home."

Suze nodded her head, grateful for the escape.

"Okay." He was still whispering into her ear. "On the count of three. One."

They pulled apart from each other and faced the crowd who was slowly circling them, Paul leading.

"Two."

Suze clutched Jesse's hand. No way was she going to leave him again.

"Three!"

At Jesse's shout the two broke off at a run, away from the angry shouts of the crowd. Their hand's remained entwined as the pair urged their legs to take them away faster.

Looking back over his shoulder to check the coast was clear, Jesse became aware of someone following them. A person who was closer to them than the rest of the crowd.

Paul.

"Shift, Susannah." Jesse urged letting go of her hand. "I'll be right there."

"Promise?"

Jesse kissed her, quickly and passionately.

"Promise. I'll be right there."

Then he watched as his girlfriend closed her eyes and vanished. There was slight twinge of sadness when he thought of him and Susannah being seperated again.

Composing himself quickly, he turned to face Paul just as the boy was slowing in front of him. Without pausing, Jesse threw a punch at Paul's already-tender nose.

"That's for taking her."

He kicked Paul's legs out from under him so that he collapsed on the ground.

"That's for practically getting off on it."

A final punch caught Paul's ribs and winded him.

"How could you do it?" Jesse demanded, his voice raw. "Take her away from her friends just for the satisfaction of holding her in your arms for a minute - less than that. After locking her away in a barn of all places for an entire night?"

"When did she…?" Paul spluttered out, coughing as he did so.

"When did she tell me?" Jesse laughed, his relief of having Susannah safely at home combining with the rage he felt towards Paul for taking her away combining in one mass of hysteria. "She didn't have to. I could see it. The rope burns, the raw marks around her mouth."

Jesse shivered as he thought about what Paul had done.

"How could you?" He asked coldly.

"I didn't mean … I didn't … I thought that -" Paul couldn't get out a full sentence.

"Save it," Jesse demanded staring at the broken boy on the floor. "You're not worth it. Do anything like this again, and I'll do more then break a few ribs, got me?"

Paul could only nod in fear. Who knew Hector de Silva could be so scary?

The sounds of an angry mob grew closer.

"I'll leave you to clear up this mess."

Then Jesse closed his eyes and pictured Susannah. A smile crossed his face as he too vanished in front of Paul, leaving the boy to stare up at empty air helplessly as pain overcame him.

Paul passed out just as Isabella's dad's voice came screaming over at him.

"Where is my daughter?!"


	21. Chapter 21

**A.N - Next update a bit earlier then usual. I'm really bad at keeping schedules. But there should be quite a few this week as I get unbelievably bored during half term.**

**And thanks for all of your reviews. Sorry if I didn't reply - I lost track of who i had and hadn't replied to. I promise I'll reply to every one I receive from now till the end of the fic.

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Chapter 21

When Jesse opened his eyes, he wasn't greeted with the welcoming sight of electricity and all the joys of the 21st century that he had taken for granted. Instead, he saw Susannah standing opposite him with wide eyes as she looked over in fear.

They were standing near a beach - Jesse could hear the waves crashing as he felt soft sprays of water reach him.

"Where are we?" Came his voice quietly, trying not to worry Susannah. She'd been through a lot in this past day and now she hadn't even shifted home - judging by the lack of streetlights turning on as the night grew darker.

"I don't know." She whispered just as quietly.

Jesse was thankful that instead of shifting home he had instead pictured Susannah, otherwise she would have been left here alone.

Taking a look at her face, and how tired she looked, Jesse opened his arms and Suze silently ran into them.

It wasn't long before he felt small sobs wrack her body. His girlfriend never cried. She had obviously been through a lot more then he'd thought, if it was affecting her like this.

"It's okay," he soothed, smoothing her hair as her cries lessened. "You're alright now, I'm here. I'll never leave you."

She pulled back to look at him, still managing to look beautiful when her eyes were red and she had tears leaking from them.

Jesse leaned down to kiss her. As he pulled away, he looked up at the darkening sky and the faint clusters of stars that he could see emerging.

"Let's find somewhere to spend the night," He said finally. "And find out where we are in the morning."

"Yeah, sounds good."

---------------------

They eventually found an abandoned fisherman's house not far from where they were. It had taken a while to find because of the lack of light.

Breaking into the house proved easy and, after finding out there was only the one, Jesse offered the bed to Susannah.

Suze, however, shook her head vehemently.

"We can share," she insisted.

Jesse's eyebrow went up.

"I mean," She blushed as she realised what her statement must have sounded like to her boyfriend. "I don't want you to sleep on the cold floor, and there's only the one bed …"

She trailed off and looked at the floor.

"Just, hold me?"

Jesse's heart swelled when she said those three words. They confirmed, for him, every time that Susannah had ever said that she loved him.

He nodded in response as he laid down on the rough, hay-stuffed mattress and got as comfortable as he could while Susannah did the same in his arms.

When they were both settled, he wrapped his arms around her, as if protecting her from the outside world, and kissed her temple.

"I Love you, querida." He whispered.

"Mmm," Susannah was already drifting off to sleep. "Love you too."

"Sweet dreams."

The only reply he received was the sound of Susannah's even breathing as the day's events caught up with her and she fell fast asleep.

Jesse smiled as he watched over her sleeping form. He was lucky to have her. No one - especially not Paul Slater - was ever going to take her away from him. He'd make sure of that.

With those thoughts, Jesse allowed himself to fall asleep with her.

---------------

Suze opened her eyes the next morning to a small, cramped room with harsh sunlight blaring in through a hole in the wall - which she guessed was suppose to be a window - and hurting her eyes. She winced against the brightness of the rays.

Another thing she noticed, once she regained her ability to see properly, was that she was alone.

She was so going to kill Jesse if he left her here in this … place.

Angrily jumping up from the bed and smoothing out her incredibly creased winter formal dress, Suze stormed through the little shack that they had camped in for the night.

"Hector de Silva," she muttered to herself. "You better still be here, or else I'll -"

"Woah," Came her boyfriend's voice from a doorway to the side of her. "You never call me Hector. What's up?"

"What's up?" She said harshly, poking him in the chest with a finger. "What's up?! I woke up alone in a strange house, in a different time. That's 'what's up'!"

Suze stopped talking when she realised that her voice wasn't the only sound in the room.

"And you're laughing." Her voice grew accusatory. "Why are you laughing?"

Jesse's laugh was low and rough.

"I'm sorry, querida," he managed to choke out between laughs. "I just went out early to try and find where we are, so that no one would question what I am wearing."

"Oh," Suze could see the reasoning behind his actions. It would look a bit strange if a sixteen year old was wearing a tux at midday - less people would've seen him at this time in the morning - but it still didn't explain why he was laughing at her. "But, why were you laughing?"

Jesse's laughs had died down by now, so he could explain without gasping for breath.

"Just that yesterday you were ready to knock Paul out," he said. "And today, all you came up with to punish me was a poke."

Suze scrunched her brows.

"Yeah," she told him. "That's not funny."

Jesse shrugged, "I thought it was."

Suze rolled her eyes and walked over to him, kissing his cheek, forgiving him already. The smile he threw at her was impossible to stay mad at.

"I'm sorry. I just didn't like being alone. I was scared, is all."

Jesse smiled.

"It's okay, I told you I'd never leave you again. You don't have to worry about that."

But it was still nice to hear that she liked him protecting her. Even if she didn't come outright and say it, he knew she felt safe with him.

"So," she spoke distractedly as she tried to gauge the damage to her dress. She really loved it and she wasn't going to let a little trip through history spoil it. "Did you find out where we are?"

"Yeah," Jesse pulled out a newspaper from behind his back and placed it on the table in front of him. As he leaned over it, his shirt - which had been unbuttoned at the top after he'd taken off the suit jacket - fell forward, providing Suze with a very good view of her boyfriend's tanned chest. "Check this out."

His finger pointing to the article in front of her snapped her out of her daze and she brought her eyes towards the headline he was showing her.

"Isabella Martinez Marries Slaski In Lavish Ceremony?" She read out loud. "We're still in 1814?"

"1815, actually," Jesse said, pointing to another part of the article. "Listen. 'The wedding ceremony was held yesterday at the Junipero Serra Mission a year to the day that the Isabella Impostor caused such a fiasco in our city.'"

Suze tried to contain her laughs.

"We messed up history so much."

Jesse joined her in her laughter as he gathered her in his arms and held her close.

"It turned out," he explained. "That Isabella was in New York during our little cameo in history. She was due home that day but the horse drawing her carriage lost a shoe so they had to make an unscheduled stop. That's why her family thought that you were their daughter - they hadn't received the letter that she was going to be late."

Suze kissed him softly. "And how do you know all of this, Mr de Silva?"

He raised his eyebrows in an amused way.

"I have my ways."

"What about Paul?" Suze drawled as she remembered, not particularly caring either after what he put her through. "What happened with him?"

"Well," Jesse's smug voice continued with the story. "They took him to hospital to treat his injuries -" Jesse sounded so proud of himself that Suze slapped his chest lightly "- and the story goes that he just disappeared shortly after he regained consciousness. I'm betting that he shifted home."

"And the real Mr Slaski?" Susannah asked as she picked up the newspaper and read the article.

"Showed up two weeks later." Jesse explained. "He had been in Seattle with his ill mother. She had taken ill so quickly that he didn't have time to tell anyone he was leaving."

Jesse looked over at his girlfriend who was leaning against the wall, reading the newspaper and giving it every ounce of her concentration.

"Susannah?" He asked to get her attention, smiling when she distractedly murmured a response, still concentrating on the newspaper. "Let's go home."

She looked up then and Jesse held out his hand to her.

Still clutching the newspaper, she took it.

"Yeah," Suze said, agreeing with him. "Let's go home."


	22. Chapter 22

**A.N - I know this is unrealistic but, lets face it, neither is travelling through time, so I hope you stick this through with me.**

**Also, this is an early birthday present for Emily, one of my bestest friends ever, and who has been waiting for this since May 4th. Happy Birthday x-Moondancing Milly-x (for tomorrow).**

**I really hope you all like this little twist as much as I enjoyed writing it.

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Chapter 22

They had both never been so happy to see Jesse's car, still sitting in the beach car park where he'd left it. Suze squealed happily and launched herself towards it, dragging Jesse who still held her hand.

"We're home Jesse!" She exclaimed excitedly. "We're home! We can go home!"

"Hold on a second, querida," Jesse replied pensively. "We need to figure out what day it is here."

"Why?" Suze's nose crinkled up as she thought about what he'd said.

"Querida, think about it." Jesse looked into her eyes as he tried to make her see sense. "We were in the past for two days. If that amount of time has passed here, then our family's will be worried about us."

"Mom!" Suze exclaimed, obviously not having thought of this. "I've got to tell her I'm alright, Jesse."

"I know," he sighed. "But we can't just turn up. We'll need a cover story for where we've been the past two days. Unless you want to tell them the truth?"

"No!" She blurted out adorably. "We can think of a cover story."

Jesse smiled and kissed her.

"First of all, we have to figure out what day it is," he repeated. "It could still be the day of the dance, and we wont have to make up anything."

The sun was setting over the horizon. Jesse looked up and saw his girlfriend standing on the beach, a smear of mud on her cheek, her dress ruined and her hair messy. She'd never looked so beautiful, to him, before.

He unconsciously fingered his tuxedo pocket, checking that the small box had remained with him after all he'd been through. All they'd been through.

When he'd made up his mind - which didn't take long, taking into consideration how much Susannah meant to him - Jesse took her hand, kissed it, and looked deeply into her eyes so that she would have no doubts that everything he was about to say was nothing but the truth.

"I know we're young," he began. "And I know we haven't know each other for more than a few months, but I feel like I've known you so much longer."

"Me too," Susannah whispered.

"And," he continued. "I know it's soon, but I don't think I can live without you."

Susannah's eyes glistened with unshed, happy tears.

"So, Susannah," Jesse fell to one knee as Susannah's hand flew to her mouth, stifling a gasp as she realised what was happening. "Because I Love you, so much, will you marry me?"

The ring was beautiful, his father had given it to his mother as his father did before him. It was silver and simple with several small emeralds twisting inwards in a winding spiral. It was purely coincidence that the emeralds matched her eyes so well.

His mother had given it to him the day of the dance, obviously knowing that he had already found the girl he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

"Yes!" Susannah exclaimed happily, tears falling freely down her cheeks. "Yes, of course."

Jesse broke out into a brilliant grin, stood up and pulled her towards him for a celebratory kiss. His fiancée looked up at him happily as he slid the ring onto her left ring finger.

"It's beautiful," she whispered.

"Not as much as you."

And despite the fact that lines like that was such a cliché, it was true. His bride-to-be was more enchanting than anything he had ever seen before.

"Come on," Susannah pulled him towards his car again. "Let's find out when we are and then lets go show off my ring!"

Jesse let out a deep chuckle as he abided her wishes, opening her car door for her before jogging around to his side and starting it up.

---

He drove to the nearest convenience store in order to buy a newspaper. The couple exited the car together and, holding hands, they made their way into the store.

Jesse kissed Susannah on the cheek as he bent down to pick up a newspaper and then went to the checkout to pay for it.

Handing over two dollars, Jesse didn't wait for the shop assistant to hand him his change and instead just walked out, missing the look the man threw at him.

The recently engaged couple sat inside Jesse's car as they looked through the newspaper. The date on the front read Monday 23rd December. Jesse looked at Susannah. They had been gone for three days. It was Christmas Eve _tomorrow_.

They needed a cover story.

"What do we do, Jesse?" Susannah asked him.

Jesse, however, was focusing on the third page where there was a picture of Susannah … and him.

"Susannah," he gestured to the page. "Look."

The article proclaimed them missing. It also said that a certain Paul Slater, who was thought to have run away with them until his return the day before, had told Susannah's family that Jesse had kidnapped her. Paul had said that as soon as he realised what Jesse had planned, he had turned around and came straight back home.

"Paul Slater," Susannah hissed to herself. "I am going to kill you."

She looked up at Jesse with wide eyes.

"What are we going to do?"

Jesse's thoughts were on overdrive. Paul Slater had messed this all up for them. Jesse thought that the beating he had been given would have warned him against doing something like this.

"Susannah," Jesse began. "This may sound strange, but, let's go to Vegas. If we get married tonight then it explains our absence."

"But my family …" Susannah looked torn.

"We can leave them a note before we go, make it look like it had been in the mail." Jesse pleaded with her as a small smile tipped the corner of his lips. "We were going to get married sooner or later - let's just make it sooner."

Susannah darted her gaze from Jesse, to the shop, to the entire city of Carmel before finally focusing on Jesse again.

"Okay," she said. "Let's do it."

--------

The two teenagers wrote a letter to Susannah's parents and fixed a stamp on the envelope, after having bought all the equipment needed from the shop they had parked in front of. They discreetly slipped it into the Simon-Ackerman mailbox before driving to Jesse's house so that he could run inside and get some more money. His mother and father had gone to visit family for the holidays, taking his sisters with them.

"I can't believe this is actually happening," Susannah was shocked.

He risked a glance over at her, pleased to see she was smiling.

"I know," he stated. "But, I promise you Susannah, we will do this again, properly, when we get back home. I love you, you have to know that."

Her smile was wide.

"I Love you too."

The occupants of the car were silent as they stared up at the sign that loomed above them.

"_Welcome to Nevada."_

Welcome to the beginning of the rest of your life together.


	23. Chapter 23

**A.N - I hope this is realistic. I haven't had any experience in eloping - duh - and, ultimately, I wanted Suze's family to accept it.**

**Thank you to everyone for all of your reviews last chapter.**

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**Chapter 23**

Two days later, the new Mr and Mrs de Silva drove back into Carmel, California, hands entwined as Jesse drove.

"You know," Susannah complained. "You could let me drive. I've _almost _got my drivers license."

"Yes, Mrs de Silva," Jesse replied happily. "But almost is not now."

Susannah sighed.

"Mrs de Silva," she whispered. "I like the sound of that. Susannah de Silva."

"I like it too," Jesse admitted, kissing his wife's knuckles.

"What do you think they're going to say?" Suze spoke quietly, obviously fearing her parent's reaction.

"Well," Jesse paused as he thought over the past week's events. "You explained in your note, right? That we were going to Vegas?"

"Yes." Suze replied immediately.

"Well then," her husband continued. "I suppose they shall just be glad to see you again."

Suze nodded in agreement, before pausing and biting her bottom lip.

"Jesse?" She asked.

"Yes, querida?"

"What about _your _family?"

"What about them?" He glanced over at the girl huddled into his side.

"Won't they mind that you ran off to Vegas to get married?"

Jesse laughed at that.

"No, querida," he said. "They won't. My mother has always had this ability to guess events. She was the one who gave me that ring. I imagine that she knew something like this was going to happen eventually."

Susannah nodded, taking his explanation at face value, never doubting his honesty.

Jesse pulled the car in front of the Simon-Ackerman residence. Well, he supposed, maybe not Simon anymore.

"Ready?"

Susannah took a deep breath as she stared up at the house, fearing her family's reaction.

"Yeah," she muttered eventually. "Let's go."

Climbing out of the car, the newly-weds clutched each other's hands as they walked up the pine-needle strewn drive. Jesse kissed his wife before opening the door and allowing her to walk in ahead of him.

Susannah's mom, step-dad and three step-brothers were all in the sitting room, surrounding an extravagantly decorated Christmas Tree with sad expressions on their faces. Jesse winced as he thought about what they must have been through since Friday.

Only Brad had looked up at the sound of the front door. Andy was comforting Susannah's mom, Jake was laying back on the sofa, eyes shut and David was still at the age where he was excitedly opening his Christmas presents at seven in the morning.

"Suze!" Brad exclaimed, quite enthusiastically considering how he treated her otherwise.

The rest of the family looked up at hearing her name and then rushed towards her, hugging her and bombarding her with questions about where she'd been.

"Didn't you get my note?" Was all she said, quietly reaching behind her to take Jesse's hand.

Her family then looked over at Jesse - who had been standing awkwardly in the corner, unsure of what to say - who had gone unnoticed until then.

Susannah's mom lifted her eyebrows at the action while Andy steadily glared over at Jesse.

"Yes, we did." She muttered unbelievingly. "I'm glad you didn't actually go through with it, though. Honestly! Married? At sixteen. What would you have been thinking?"

Susannah looked down at the floor while Jesse looked around the room, squeezing his wife's hand reassuringly.

"What makes you think we didn't go through with it, Mom?"

All the room was silent for a moment as they recognised what Suze was saying. Then her mom's eyes widened and Andy exploded.

"What?!" He demanded walking over to where his step-daughter and _'husband' _stood, staring down at them, Jesse in particular.

When Susannah cringed into his chest, Jesse knew that it was up to him to explain.

"Well, sir," he began. "After the dance on Friday, I proposed to your daughter realising that I couldn't live without her."

Jesse was cringing as the terrible lie kept coming off his tongue.

"She accepted," he continued, "and we decided to go to Vegas straight away."

"Merry Christmas." Susannah whispered sarcastically while Andy looked between the two of them and his wife, unsure of what to think.

Jesse placed his arm around Susannah and hugged her warmly, trying to tell her without words that everything was going to be okay.

Witnessing the loving action, Susannah's mom placed her hand on Andy's arm, trying to calm him down. She was sure that this boy wouldn't hurt her daughter and that he made her daughter happy. In the end, that was all she wanted.

"It's alright, Susie." The sound of her mom's voice brought Suze to break away from her very enjoyable hug. "I give my blessing. I want you to be happy."

Suze smiled widely.

"Really?"

Her mom nodded and Suze ran towards her, encompassing her in a hug.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She exclaimed happily.

Andy glared at Jesse again and the boy shifted uncomfortably until Andy's face softened into a smile.

"Just, look after her, alright kid?"

Jesse smiled gratefully and nodded.

Andy stuck out his hand.

"Welcome to the family."

Jesse shook it laughing as Susannah's step-brothers all came up to congratulate them.

"Damn," Brad whistled. "This is the strangest Christmas we've had in a while."

The family's laughter was interrupted by the doorbell ringing.

Looking around at the other occupants of the room, Jesse got up and reluctantly left Susannah's side to answer the door, deciding to give them some alone time as a family.

The visitor knocked on the door again, obviously impatient.

Jesse flung open the door as he smirked at the boy on the other side.

"Hey Paul," Jesse sneered. "What can I do for you?"

Paul literally froze in shock, before styling his mouth to form a smirk of his own.

"What are you doing here, de Silva?" Paul spat out.

The boy inside of the house shrugged as he noticed the faint bruising around Paul's nose.

"Ouch," He stated. "Looks like someone hit you pretty hard."

"Ha ha," Paul said dryly. "Well, if you're back, then I suppose Suze is too? Where is she?"

Jesse was saved from answering by the sound of his wife's voice calling out to him.

"Jesse?" She called, walking up to the door. "Who's there?"

Jesse opened the door wider, showing Paul on the other side.

"Oh," Susannah spoke with hate in her voice as she once again entwined hers and Jesse's hands. "It's you. What do you want?"

"You don't sound like you're happy to see me, Suze."

"I'm not."

Paul laughed, ignoring her distaste at his presnce.

"How is it," he wondered, "that the Ackerman's are letting you in their house anyway, de Silva. After all, you kidnapped their daughter."

Jesse glared at Paul as he was reminded of the story they'd seen in the local newspaper the other day.

"Haven't you heard the news?" Jesse's face twisted into a smirk again as he pulled Susannah closer to him. "We're married."

Paul's face drooped as the colour left it.

"What?!"

"Married," Susannah jumped in, lifting up her left hand to show both the engagement ring, that he had given to her in the car, and the wedding ring that Jesse had bought for her in Vegas.

"It's true," Jesse held up his own left hand to show his wedding ring to the other boy.

"This can't be happening!" Paul refused to believe this. It was some stupid joke.

"Well, it is." Jesse shrugged and kissed Susannah's forehead. "Looks like your little plan to break us up only brought us closer together."

Suze smiled happily, snuggling up to her husband. She loved saying that. Jesse was her husband. She was Jesse de Silva's _wife._

"Susie," her mom called out to her. "Invite whoever it is at the door inside. We're celebrating!"

Jesse raised his eyebrow and stepped out of the way of the door, allowing Paul to walk inside - which he did, angrily.

"That was fun," Susannah smirked.

"Yep," Jesse agreed. "The best kind of revenge for what he did to us."

Susannah nodded and together they walked back into the lounge area where the rest of the family were gathered only to find they had an extra guest.

Someone they'd forgotten about but obviously hadn't gone anywhere.

"Oh sure," Craig Jankow exclaimed throwing his hands up dramatically. "Have a party and don't invite me!"


	24. Chapter 24

**A.N - I'm updating in honour of me getting my purple belt in Kickboxing - 8 more belts then I'm black. xD**

**Lol, anyway. Thanks for the reviews last chapter. I really wasn't expecting that big of a response.**

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**Chapter 24**

Suze's eyes widened, but that was the only sign that the sight of Craig bothered her.

Paul was staring at the ghost with a blank expression while Jesse was desperately thinking of how they could get the ghost to move on. They did not need him ruining things, as he would probably do.

"So let me get this straight," Craig carried on, "you two," he pointed his fingers at Jesse and Suze, "are married?"

Then he started laughing.

"Idiot," he directed towards Jesse. "Why the hell would you settle down with one person _now, _and have to spend the rest of your life with her?"

"I love you," was all Jesse said to Susannah, so as to tell Craig why he'd married her without appearing like he was insane to the rest of Susannah's family.

Craig rolled his eyes, "Yeah." He said. "Like anybody marries for love anymore."

Suze's eyes narrowed.

"Hey, Paul," she called to the boy who had been sitting alone in the corner of the room since he'd walked in. "Join us in the kitchen would you."

_And bring Craig._

Her unsaid words lay hanging between the three.

This time Paul rolled his eyes as he stood up and discretely knocked Craig in the direction that they were headed in.

"Hey!" The ghost exclaimed. "You can't treat me like this! Do you _know _who my parents are? They own a number of restaurants in Carmel alone-"

He was cut off when Jesse snapped at Paul.

"Sort him out, would you?" He questioned the other boy angrily.

"What do you think I'm going to do about it?" Paul wanted to know.

Jesse shrugged and walked up behind Susannah, wrapping his arms around so that they were both facing Paul.

"Isn't it obvious?" He said. "You're going to do something you never have done before."

"Oh, yeah?" Paul raised his eyebrow in amusement. "And what's that?"

"Shift."

Paul's face dropped and went pale with fear.

"But, but," he stuttered. "_You _said that it was horrible. And that you had the biggest headache afterwards."

Jesse shrugged again.

"Wait a minute," Paul demanded, covering his fear with anger. "Why am I going to be the one to do this?"

"Think of it," Suze piped up from her position in her husbands arms, "as a wedding present. From you, to us."

Paul glared at the both of them.

"And what do I do when I get up there?"

"Show Craig the door," Jesse's sentence was cryptic to everyone except him and Paul.

When Jesse had shifted up into shadow land, the only thing Paul had warned him about was the doors - and of course 'don't walk into the light' - and how he should never open one.

"And if I don't?" Paul demanded.

"I'll tell everybody it was you that kidnapped me," Suze offered. "And Jesse came to save me - which, by the way, is true."

"Fine," Paul snapped. "I'll go."

He snatched Craig's shirt - the ghost himself had been banging various pots and pans together trying to be noticed by the three mediators - and disappeared.

Suze span around and kissed her husband happily.

No more Craig to worry about. And no more Paul either, unless he wanted to be sent to jail for kidnapping.

"Come on," Jesse whispered. "Let's get back to your mom."

Suze nodded and they walked back into the living room.

"Susie," her mom said when she saw the two of them. "What was all that noise about?"

"Oh, nothing," she replied.

"We just had an argument with Paul," Jesse chipped in. "It's alright now though. We settled it, and he's gone."

Suze's mom nodded and then turned to Andy who was smiling and nodding encouragingly.

"We were talking about it," she began. "And we've decided that we want you to have a proper wedding. One that everyone can be involved in."

Suze smiled widely.

"That sounds great!" She admitted and Jesse nodded his head yes as well.

He had been planning on giving her a real wedding anyway, once he had save up enough to afford it.

"Thank you _so _much, Mom," Suze exclaimed. "And you Andy."

She turned back to Jesse.

"We can have a real wedding!" She said excitedly. "With CeeCee as my maid of honour and Adam can be your best man!"

Him and Adam had become better friends in the months that Jesse and Susannah had been going out.

Then his wife's face fell.

"What about CeeCee and Adam?" She asked. "They haven't see us since the dance."

"It's okay, querida," Jesse told her. "We can call them, arrange to meet up and then tell them everything."

"Everything?" She quirked a brow at him and he laughed.

"Alright, not everything, but we'll tell them our story."

They kissed quickly, remembering the presence of Susannah's family, and then broke apart to join in the festivities.

------------

Two days later, Jesse and Susannah de Silva sat side by side in the local coffee place, waiting for CeeCee and Adam to join them.

"It'll be okay," Jesse squeezed his wife's hand. "They'll understand."

Susannah nodded and looked down at her rings - wedding and engagement. They were both so beautiful. She could hardly believe that they were actually _married_. As in 'Till Death Do Us Part'.

"I don't regret it," she whispered bringing her gaze to rest on Jesse warm, brown eyes. "Getting married."

"Good, because neither do I."

He was leaning in to kiss her when they heard a cough behind them.

Looking around, Susannah spotted CeeCee and Adam looking at them with shocked expressions on their faces.

"Did we just hear correctly?" Adam wanted to know. "Did we hear you say that you're _married_?"

"Um, yes." Suze said quietly.

"Oh. My. God." CeeCee said. "I cannot believe that you got married without your best friend there!"

"Best friend_s_," Adam added with a smile on his face.

Jesse let go of Susannah's hand and she ran around the booth to hug CeeCee.

"I'm sorry," she apologised. "It just all happened so quickly, we were going to tell you here. All of it."

"Girl, I don't care about that," she stated. "Show me the rings!"

Susannah laughed and showed CeeCee her left hand.

"Oh my," Adam said after getting a look at the jewellery. "Hey, Big Spender!"

Jesse laughed and allowed Adam to pull him into a manly, congratulatory hug.

"Congratulations, man." He said when they broke apart.

"Thanks."

Susannah came back down to sit by him while Adam and CeeCee slid into the seats opposite.

"Now," CeeCee began. "Would someone care to tell me the whole story?"


	25. Chapter 25

**A.N - Aw, I'm kind of sad.** **After this there's just an Epilogue to go. So I'd just like to say thank you to Everyone who's reviewed the past 24 chapters and sticking with me throughout. I love you all!

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**Chapter 25**

"5...4...3...2...1." The countdown was chanted by several drunk and tipsy people. "Happy New Year!"

Andy had let the children use the house for a New Year's Party as a sort-of wedding present to his step-daughter and her husband. Jake had gotten hold of a keg. Needless to say, a keg and high school students wasn't a good mix.

"Happy New Year," the sober Jesse de Silva whispered to his wife leaning in to reign in the new year with a kiss.

"Happy New Year," Suze whispered back once they pulled apart.

Above them, fireworks exploded in a beautiful mess of colour. Flashes of red, blue, green and gold followed sounds of the rockets soaring into the sky.

The couple stood on the decking as they watched the show, ignoring the party all around them.

"Happy New Year, Sweetheart." Suze's dad said to her, startling her out of Jesse's hold.

"Dad!" She exclaimed.

"I'll go," Jesse kissed his wife's cheek. "Let you to talk privately."

"Thank you," Suze mouthed back to him. All she got was Jesse's winning smile in response.

"He's a good lad, that one," her Dad told her. "Got a good head on his shoulders."

"So," Suze bit her bottom lip. "You approve?"

She was grateful that they were in a secluded part of the house. That way no one could see her talking to herself.

"I don't approve of you marrying so young, if that's what you mean," her Dad spoke sternly before softening his tone. "But I do approve of Jesse. I can see he's a good match for you, and that you're happy. That's all I want for you."

Tears welled in her eyes.

"You're not going to … move on, are you?"

Her Dad smiled at her gently.

"I'm here as long as you need me." He told her.

Suze wrapped her arms around her dad, wiping the tears away from her eyes as she pulled away.

"I love you, dad." She whispered.

"I love you too."

He smiled at her once more before disappearing.

He hadn't moved on though, she would have been able to tell if he had. No, Suze could still feel her Dad's presence lingering around, probably checking up on her mom.

"You okay?" Her husband's voice broke into her thoughts.

"Yeah," she smiled. "I'm good. Dad approves of you, you know?"

Jesse laughed, taking her hand in his as they joined the main bulk of the party.

"Yeah, I did." He admitted. "He and I had a talk on Christmas."

"What?!"

Jesse placed a kiss on top of her head.

"Don't worry, Mrs de Silva," he told her. "Just be glad he approves of me. Otherwise who knows what would have happened."

Suze nodded as she thought about it, agreeing with Jesse's statement. Her dad could be pretty scary when he wanted to be.

"Dude!" A voice called out to them which Jesse identified as belonging to one of his team mates in school. "I can't believe you're _married_. You're only, like, sixteen!"

Jesse shrugged as if to say, 'What you gonna do?' before talking to his friend.

"I love her," he said simply. "It felt right."

His friend laughed.

"Whatever, man," he boomed out. "I would so hate to be in your shoes. Look," he gestured to the party going on around them. "Look at all the girls you could be getting! Though I must say, you did pick a good one to spend the rest of your life with, I mean -"

"Okay!" Jesse cut him off whilst taking the beer he held in his hands away from him. "I think you've drank a bit too much."

Suze was trying her best not to laugh. She knew Jesse didn't regret his decision. He told her so every day and throughout his friend's speech he'd been clenching and unclenching his hand in her own. Jesse loved her, it was as simple as that.

"What?" The soccer player protested drunkenly, swaying a little on his feet. "That's only like my third one!"

"Three too many," Jesse muttered to Suze who finally let a little giggle escape.

"It's okay dude," Jesse told his friend. "Just, go home and sleep it off, alright?"

His friend nodded, dazed and stumbled off to look for something - probably more beer.

"I love you, you know that." Jesse told her whilst Suze nodded.

Yeah, she did know.

"Good." Jesse happily leaned in to kiss her.

"Well, isn't this just a touching moment?"

Jesse cursed Paul Slater with just about every swear word he knew. The boy was always messing things up for him.

"Yes," Jesse agreed. "It is. So, go away, and let us finish it."

"Oh, no way de Silva," Paul interrupted. "The way I see it, you made me go up to Shadowland. The least I can do is annoy the town's golden couple while they're still in the honeymoon period."

Paul shrugged.

"Who knows?" He said. "Maybe the blushing bride will realise that she made a mistake and get the marriage annulled, assuming that you two haven't consummated the marriage yet."

The newlyweds looked at each other, knowing that what Paul said was true. No, they hadn't consummated their marriage, they'd been in too much of a rush to get home and had been kept apart every night since.

"Not going to happen, Paul." Suze said sternly in a voice that imitated her father's when he was angry.

"Aww, come on Susie," Paul pouted, a lock of brown hair falling in front of his eyes. "You know that you don't really love this guy."

Suze placed a hand on Jesse's arm to stop him from starting another fight with Paul.

"Yes, I do love him." She told Paul. "Besides, don't you remember our last conversation. The one where we said that we'd tell _everybody_ that you kidnapped me at the Christmas Dance?"

Paul's face paled.

"No one will believe you," he insisted. "Why didn't you tell everybody sooner?"

"You warned me not to," she shrugged. "And I was so scared I thought I had to do what you said. Not now though, I've realised that I was the victim in all of this."

"And you're family?" Paul carried on, obviously not convinced. "They know that you married Jesse. In fact, everybody does."

"He saved me from you and then we realised that we couldn't bare to be apart so we eloped." Suze said everything calmly. "No big."

Jesse wrapped an arm around his wife, smirking at Paul over her shoulder. He'd never been more proud.

"Fine," Paul relented. "You win."

Then he turned around to leave.

"Oh, hey, Paul!" Jesse called. "You forgot something."

Without another word, Jesse punched Paul in his still bruised ribs.

"I mean it, this time," he threatened. "Never come near me, or mine, again. Got me?"

Paul nodded.

"Aw, honey," Suze said a joking voice. "You beat up someone for me! You shouldn't have."

Jesse laughed.

"After you verbally beat him up the way you did," he reasoned. "I had to show _some _form of manliness."

"That you did."

They kissed again in the eerie silence that followed the spectacular fireworks display, before walking over to CeeCee and Adam - who were now officially dating - to enjoy the rest of the night.

It was going to be a good year.


	26. Epilogue

**A.N - Well, after 170 reviews - thank you for all of them by the way - and many alerts and appearances on many favourite lists, this story is finally finished.**

**I hope you enjoy this last chapter.**

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**Epilogue**

_6 Months Later._

Suze peered at her reflection in the mirror inquisitively. Her kohl-rimmed, green eyes glanced up and down every inch of her white dress covered self.

She was getting married. Properly this time. And not in her High School's Christmas Dance, torn from gallivanting around in the past, dress. A real wedding dress!

Her hair was piled up on top of her head in extravagant curls with ringlets finding their way past her tiara.

"Susie!" Her mom exclaimed happily, tears in her eyes. "You look so grown up. I can't believe it! My daughter's getting married."

"Mom," Suze replied. "I've been married for six months now."

"Oh, I know that," her mom waved her hand as if to brush away the sentence. "But this time I'm actually here to see you walk down the aisle."

Suze smiled widely as her mom pulled her into a hug.

"You look breathtaking, sweetheart," Suze pulled away as she heard her dad's voice.

"I'll just go," her mom said. "I really only came to check on your progress. You look beautiful, Susie."

"Thanks Mom," she whispered as her mom gathered up a small collection of flowers and left the room to start handing them out to the bridesmaids.

Suze had three bridesmaids - CeeCee, Gina (her best friend from back when she lived in Brooklyn) and Josefina (Jesse's sister). Jesse's family had took an instant liking to Suze when they had first met but it was Josefina who Suze got along with the most.

"Dad." Suze said tears welling up in her eyes. "You're here?"

"Of course I am," her dad looked shocked at the suggestion he wouldn't be. "I wouldn't miss this for the world."

A tear escaped Suze as she ran to hug her dad.

"Hey now, kid," he whispered. "None of that. Can't ruin you're make-up."

"I'm so happy that you're actually here."

They stayed hugging until they both heard the strains of the age-old tune fill the hall area of the Mission - where they were getting married.

"Dad," Suze began as she pulled away from him. "Would you do the honour of giving me away?"

Her Dad looked confused.

"I thought that Andy was doing it?"

"He is," Suze agreed. "But he's not my real dad. I'd love it if you were there too."

Mr Simon had tears in his own eyes now.

"Of course I would, Sweetheart," He whispered giving her hand a squeeze. "I'd love to."

Smiling up at him, Suze quickly placed her veil on top of her professionally done hair, checking herself in the mirror once again before gathering her bouquet and going to meet Andy.

"Are you ready?" He asked her, taking her arm in his own.

"Uh-huh." Suze nodded confirming that she was as her Dad took up his place on her other side.

Then the doors swung open and suddenly at least one hundred people all turned to stare at her.

But Suze only had eyes for her husband. He was standing at the altar, with Father Dominic in the middle of where the two of them would finally be stood, and Adam at his side as best man. Both boys were dressed elegantly in matching tuxedos.

Slowly, she began her walk up the aisle, revelling in the attention that was cast upon her - the attention that she hadn't received during her actual wedding.

Jesse cast his gaze from his wife to the glowing person standing at her side. The person only he, Father Dominic, Susannah and Paul who was somewhere in the audience, could see.

Susannah's dad looked at him and winked as he stepped to the side allowing Andy to kiss his daughter's cheek and let go of her hand as she turned to face Jesse.

"You look amazing," he admitted softly as he lifted up his wife's veil.

"Thank you." she smiled. "You look good too."

Jesse smiled widely and took her hand in his own as they turned to face Father Dominic.

The mission had been extravagantly decorated for the event - the Ackerman's had spared no expense. Small bunches of white tulips and pink roses were tied together with a pink ribbon and hung from each row of pews.

Day-lily petals had been scattered up the aisle by the bridesmaids as they had made their own journey to the altar.

The ceremony only lasted half an hour, but it was long enough to make most of the women present dab their eyes with handkerchiefs.

Next came the reception which was to be held at a nearby hall which was also decorated with ribbons and streamers hanging from every available surface.

"I love you, Mrs de Silva," Jesse whispered into his wife's ear as they shared their 'first' dance together as man and wife.

"I love you too, Mr de Silva."

Wedding leaflets lay crumpled on the ground as the guests at the wedding dropped them in favour of dancing.

'_Mr and Mrs Ackerman invite you to the renewal of wedding vows of their daughter Susannah de Silva and her husband Hector de Silva.'_

The message screamed happily from the page.

As their dance finished, the one meant for father and daughter began, and Andy came over to the couple to claim it.

Jesse stepped aside gallantly and kissed his wife on the cheek before walking over to where Susannah's biological dad was sitting.

"I really wish I could be the one dancing with her," he admitted to Jesse. "I am her father."

"I bet she wishes it were you as well Mr Simon." Jesse offered.

Susannah's dad turned to him with a smile.

"I'm glad she has you now, son." He told Jesse. "She's happy with you."

Jesse nodded and looked away.

Suze had caught the whole exchange from where she'd been dancing, having looked over Andy's shoulder.

"I love you Dad," she mothed at him with a smile on her face and tears welling up in her eyes.

"I love you too," he said back before smiling at her and starting to shimmer away.

Her dad had finally moved on.

"Are you okay?" Jesse asked her later as she was finally released from the many people who claimed her for a dance.

"I'm fine." She told him. "Never better."

Jesse smiled and kissed her, fully, on the lips.

"Have you seen Paul today?" Susannah asked her husband.

"Yeah," Jesse smiled. "He's out back dealing with a few ghosts."

"Ghosts?" Suze asked worriedly.

"I told him there were some out there," Jesse shrugged innocently. "He really is scared that we're going to go to the police about what really happened."

"He should be!" Exclaimed Susannah. "Although," they had begun dancing again by now. "If he hadn't have pulled that stunt, then we might not be here today, getting married."

"True," Jesse agreed. "We would have just waited until after college."

They had only just graduated from High School the month before.

"Who said I would have stayed with you that long?" She teased.

"You did, Mrs de Silva," her husband teased her right back. "When the words 'I do' left your mouth. Both on December 24th and June 5th."

He paused for a moment.

"When do you plan on celebrating our anniversary anyway, querida?" He asked. "Today or at Christmas?"

"Hmmm," she paused before smiling wildly. "Both days?"

Jesse laughed as he pulled her in for a kiss. He'd give her everything he could.

Because he loved her. They were married, had everyone's blessing and were moving into an apartment together close to the college they were both attending.

Life didn't get any better then this.


End file.
